Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge

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Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge
Carries	Norwottuck Rail Trail
Crosses	Connecticut River
Locale	Northampton, Massachusetts to Hadley, Massachusetts
Maintained by	MassHighway
Design	steel lattice truss bridge[1]
Longest span	approximately 200 feet (61 m)
Total length	approximately 1,492 feet (454.76 m)
Opening date	1887, 1992
Coordinates	42°20′14″N 72°37′07″W / 42.33722, -72.61861 (Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge)Coordinates: 42°20′14″N 72°37′07″W / 42.33722, -72.61861 (Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge)

The Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge (also known as the Northampton Lattice Truss Bridge) is a former crossing of Boston and Maine Railroad over the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts, connecting the towns of Northampton and Hadley, currently used for bicycle and foot traffic.

Contents 1 History and construction of the bridge 2 Image Gallery 3 See also 4 External links 5 References

[edit] History and construction of the bridge

The Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge is an eight-span steel lattice truss bridge. It crosses Elwell Island in the middle of the river, providing no access to the island in an attempt to keep the island otherwise untouched. Riding over the bridge shows eight spans, with two of them over Elwell Island. It was built by the R. F. Hawkins Ironworks Company^[2].

To survive the 1936 flood, railroad cars loaded with scrap metal were placed on the bridge to weigh it down.^[3]

The bridge was redesigned by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. of Watertown, rebuilt by MassHighway, and opened in 1992 to bicycle and foot traffic as part of the Norwottuck Rail Trail.

[edit] Image Gallery

Looking down the length of the bridge

Architectural detail of this truss bridge, if a truss bridge can be said to have architecture

[edit] See also

• List of crossings of the Connecticut River

[edit] External links

• Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.
• Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
• The Norwottuck Rail Trail Online
• Memorial Hall

[edit] References

• Jackson, Donald C. (1988). Great American Bridges and Dams. Wiley, pp.95-96. ISBN 0-471-14385-5. 

Crossings of the Connecticut River Upstream Sunderland Bridge Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge Downstream Calvin Coolidge Bridge