Chain Bridge (Potomac River)

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The Chain Bridge, from Little Falls

Underside of the Chain Bridge

Chain Bridge is a major viaduct which crosses the Potomac River at the Little Falls in Washington, D.C. It connects Washington with Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Virginia. On the Washington side, the bridge connects with Canal Road and the Clara Barton Parkway. On the Virginia side, the bridge connects with State Route 123 or Chain Bridge Road. Chain Bridge Road provides access to State Route 120 or Glebe Road and the George Washington Parkway.

Chain Bridge has three lanes, of which the center one is reversible, and can be safely accessed by pedestrians and cyclists.

[edit] Historical significance

Chain Bridge as it appeared during the Civil War.

The first bridge at that location was opened on July 3, 1797. Around 1810 it was built of large-linked chain trusses by which it has derived its name. The bridge collapsed in 1852 and was replaced by a crossbeam structure that resembled a long garden arbor or pergola, but the bridge retained its historical name. During the American Civil War Chain Bridge was a popular place for the Union Army to access the countryside encampments from Fairfax County.

Chain Bridge is the site of the first Union Army Balloon Corps balloon crossing which took place overnight on October 12, 1861, conducted by Professor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe and a band of handlers who had to precariously traverse the outsides of the fully trellised bridge. In a nine hour ordeal, the balloon Eagle was fully inflated in Washington and walked out to the battlefield at Lewinsville, Fairfax County, Virginia.

The eighth and present version of the bridge is a continuous steel girder structure, finished in 1939.