Schell Bridge

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Schell Bridge

Crosses	Connecticut River
Locale	Northfield, Massachusetts
Maintained by	no one
Design	steel Pennsylvania truss bridge
Total length	515 ft (157 m)
Opening date	1903
Destruction date	2008?
Coordinates	42°42′44″N 72°27′12″W / 42.71222, -72.45333Coordinates: 42°42′44″N 72°27′12″W / 42.71222, -72.45333

The Schell Bridge is a steel Pennsylvania truss bridge across the Connecticut River in the town of Northfield, Massachusetts. The bridge had steel plates welded across each portal in 1987, and is tentatively scheduled for demolition in late 2007 or 2008^[1].

1 Preservation Effort
2 Image Gallery
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Preservation Effort

The Friends of Schell Bridge are earnestly working to save the Schell Bridge. A year-long engineering study was performed by the Picker Engineering School at Smith College which determined that the bridge is structurally sound and is a good candidate for rehabilitation.^[2]

It has been proposed that, if preserved, the bridge will be reopened only to travel by foot, bicycle, snowmobile, and emergency vehicle. It would be available for evacuations. It would also be integrated into the tri-state rails-to-trails initiative in northern Massachusetts, southwestern New Hampshire, and southeastern Vermont.

To this end, there is a currently-scheduled fund raising effort by the Friends of Schell Bridge group set for 2008-05-03. See their web page, link above, for details.

[edit] Image Gallery

This 2007 photograph shows a steel plate across the east portal of the Schell bridge. A similar one is on the west portal, since the bridge deck is rusting through. The top of the plate reads "Where the sidewalk ends". The plate has a "NO TRESPASSING" sign bolted to it as well.