Ledyard Bridge

Ledyard Bridge

Coordinates	43°42′13″N 72°17′59″W / 43.70361°N 72.29972°W / 43.70361; -72.29972Coordinates: 43°42′13″N 72°17′59″W / 43.70361°N 72.29972°W / 43.70361; -72.29972
Crosses	Connecticut River
Locale	Hanover, New Hampshire and Norwich, Vermont
Maintained by	New Hampshire Department of Transportation
Characteristics
Design	Beam bridge, originally a covered bridge
History
Construction start	1998
Opened	1859, 2000
Closed	1935^[1]
Ledyard Bridge Location in New Hampshire

The Ledyard Bridge crosses the Connecticut River to connect Hanover, New Hampshire to Norwich, Vermont. It is the third bridge at this crossing to bear the name of the adventurer John Ledyard.

History

The first "Ledyard Free Bridge" was a covered bridge built in 1859 that was the first bridge across the Connecticut not to charge a toll. (It was the latest of several bridges at this site that went back to the late 18th century.) The bridge was named after Ledyard in 1859 because its eastern abutment was near the site of a tree that Ledyard felled during 1773 in order to make the dugout canoe in which he left Dartmouth College to continue his world travels.^[2]

The bridge now standing was built between 1998 and 2000 by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.^[3] At each end it displays a pair of "bridge balls," the controversial Classical ornaments cast in concrete that refer to the gateway to Tuck Drive nearby on the Hanover shore. They are the product of a Concord architect brought in by NHDOT to infuse some extra aesthetic appeal into the design of the bridge.

The Ledyard Bridge carries the designation of New Hampshire Route 10A and Vermont Route 10A, a short state highway linking U.S. Route 5 and Interstate 91 on the Vermont side with New Hampshire Route 10 on the New Hampshire side.

Border location

Although the border between New Hampshire and Vermont was set at the Vermont shore early in the states' histories, the bridge's monument to that border rests near the middle of the crossing; the reasoning is that the border was fixed before the Wilder Dam pushed the Vermont shore westward during the 1950s.

Ledyard from Vermont
Bore shaft operations on Vermont side
Bore shaft operations
NH abutment footing
NH view of old and new Ledyard
Ledyard from New Hampshire

References

↑ BRIDGES OF THE PAST - New Hampshire Covered Bridges
↑ Hard, Walter (1998) [1947]. Conuel, Thomas (series); Allen, Hervey; Carmer, Carl; Crawford, Jean (associate); Ball, Faith (art), eds. The Connecticut. The Rivers of America (2nd ed.). Lincoln, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Audubon Society. p. 154. ISBN 0-932691-27-7.
↑ Associated Press (December 31, 1994), "N.H., Vermont end dispute over design of proposed bridge", The Boston Globe (Boston, MA) |access-date= requires |url= (help)

Connecticut River watershed
Tributaries	Ammonoosuc River Ashuelot River Black River Black Hall River Blow-me-down Brook Burnshirt River Chapel Brook Chicopee River Cold River Cranberry River Deerfield River East Brookfield River Eightmile River Fall River Farmington River Five Mile River Green River Halls Stream Hockanum River Hubbard River Indian Stream Israel River Johns River Little Sugar River Manhan River Mascoma River Mattabesset River Mill River (Northampton) Mill River (Springfield) Millers River Mink Brook Mirey Brook Mohawk River North Branch Millers River North Branch Westfield River North River Nulhegan River Oliverian Brook Ompompanoosuc River Ottauquechee River Otter River Park River Partridge Brook Passumpsic River Perry Stream Quaboag River Salmon River Saxtons River Scantic River Seven Mile River Simms Stream Sugar River Tarbell Brook Upper Ammonoosuc River Waits River Ware River Wells River West River Westfield River Whetstone Brook White River Williams River
Lakes	Ashuelot Pond Back Lake Ball Mountain Lake Barkhamsted Reservoir Lake Beseck Brooks Pond Canaan Street Lake Cedar Pond Christine Lake Comerford Reservoir Connecticut Lakes Crystal Lake Dublin Pond Eastman Pond Echo Lake Lake Francis (Murphy Dam) Goose Pond Grafton Pond Granite Lake Harriman Reservoir Harvey Lake Lake Hayward Lakes of the Clouds Little Sunapee Lake Mascoma Lake McIndoes Reservoir Lake Monomonac Moore Reservoir North Hartland Lake Pearly Lake Pocotopaug Lake Quabbin Reservoir Lake Rescue Silver Lake Spofford Lake Lake Sunapee Surry Mountain Lake Lake Tarleton Townshend Lake Lake Wyola
Major cities (>100k)	Hartford, Connecticut Springfield, Massachusetts
Smaller cities and towns (<100k)	Agawam Ascutney Barnet Bath Beecher Falls Bellows Falls Bloomfield Bradford Brattleboro Brunswick Canaan Charlestown Chester Chesterfield Chicopee Claremont Clarksville Colebrook Columbia Concord Cornish Cromwell Dalton Deep River Deerfield Dummerston East Haddam East Hampton East Hartford East Hereford East Windsor Easthampton Enfield Essex Fairlee Gill Gilman Glastonbury Greenfield Groveton Guildhall Haddam Hadley Hanover Hartford VT Hartland Hatfield Haverhill Higganum Hinsdale Holyoke Lancaster Lebanon Lemington Littleton Longmeadow Lunenburg Lyme CT Lyme NH Maidstone Middletown Millers Falls Monroe Montague Moodus Newbury Northampton Northfield Northumberland Norwich Old Lyme Old Saybrook Orford Piermont Pittsburg Plainfield Portland Putney Rockingham Rocky Hill Ryegate South Hadley South Windsor Springfield VT Stewartstown Stratford Suffield Sunderland Thetford Thompsonville Turners Falls Vernon Walpole Waterford Weathersfield Wells River West Lebanon West Springfield Westminster Westmoreland Wethersfield Whately White River Junction Wilder Windsor CT Windsor VT Windsor Locks Woodsville
Crossings	Amtrak Old Saybrook – Old Lyme Bridge Arch Bridge Bulkeley Bridge Calvin Coolidge Bridge Canalside Rail Trail Bridge Cheshire Bridge Columbia Bridge Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge Dexter Coffin Bridge French King Bridge Gill–Montague Bridge Janice Peaslee Bridge Ledyard Bridge Morey Memorial Bridge Mount Orne Covered Bridge Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge Piermont Bridge Pittsburg–Clarksville Covered Bridge Ranger Bridge Raymond E. Baldwin Bridge Sunderland Bridge Wells River Bridge

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

Ledyard Bridge

History

Border location

See also

References