Charles River Dam Bridge
Charles River Dam Bridge | |
---|---|
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation | |
ID number | 160134 |
Characteristics | |
Design | steel bascule bridge |
Total length | 25.0 m (82.0 ft) |
Width | 25.6 m (84.0 ft) |
Longest span | 19.2 m (63.0 ft) |
Clearance below | 4.6 m (15 ft) |
History | |
Opened | 1910 |
Location | |
The Charles River Dam Bridge, officially the Craigie Bridge,
The original
The former lock at the Charles River Dam Bridge now allows water and small ships to flow freely. Taller ships require the opening of the drawbridge, operated by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
History
The first bridge on the site was known as the Canal Bridge, named after the
The bridge opened in 1809, and came to be known as Craigie's Bridge. The construction of the bridge prompted the laying out of roads to the center of Cambridge (now Cambridge Street, running to Harvard Square) and Somerville/Medford (Bridge Street, now Monsignor O'Brien Highway/Massachusetts Route 28). Craigie and associates, who formed the Lechemere Point Corporation, benefited from the building boom that followed, spurred on by their efforts to expand the public street grid.[5] Residential cross streets were constructed and some were named after investors (Otis, Thorndike, and Gore).[6][7]
The bridge was sold to the Hancock Free Bridge Corporation in 1846,[8] and became toll-free on January 30, 1858.[9]
The current bridge was constructed in 1910, along with the dam that turned the lower Charles River from a tidal estuary into a fresh-water basin. This reduced the problematic odor from raw sewage flowing into the river by keeping the formerly tidal lands covered with water.[10] It was completed on June 30, and greeted with a two-hour fireworks display that Fourth of July. Thousands of people watched from the new Boston Embankment (the early Charles River Esplanade), which took the place of the former tidal flats.[11]
Construction of the
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation completed a 2-year project to rehabilitate the Craigie Bridge and to completely replace the drawbridge in 2011. The project required the closure of the Boston-bound lanes from November 6, 2010, through mid December 2010, and again from early February 2011 through mid-April 2011, necessitating traffic detours.[12] This was paid for out of borrowed funds as part of the statewide Accelerated Bridge Program.
In November 2018, a Boston University graduate student was killed by a dump truck while bicycling on the bridge as both turned right onto Museum Way.
See also
Footnotes
- ^
U.S. Coast Pilot, volume 1, Atlantic Coast: Eastport to Cape Cod. NOAA. 2008. p. 69.
- ^ "East Cambridge Map" (PDF). Cambridge Community Development Department. City of Cambridge, MA. 23 June 2016. Retrieved Dec 18, 2019.
- ^ Clark, Mary Stetson; The Old Middlesex Canal; Hilltop Press, Medford MA,1974, p-42
- ^ Publications. The Society. 1911. p. 60. Retrieved 25 October 2018 – via Internet Archive.
craigie bridge middlesex canal.
- ^ Publications, p. 60
- ^ Paige, Lucius Robinson (25 October 1877). History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630 - 1877: With a Genealogical Register. H. O. Houghton. p. 183. Retrieved 25 October 2018 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Publications. The Society. 1911. p. 60. Retrieved 25 October 2018 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Publications, p. 61
- ^ History of Cambridge, p. 201-202
- Boston Globe. 2018-04-28. Archived from the originalon 2018-05-05. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
- ^ "100 years of celebrating the Fourth of July at Esplanade". The Boston Globe. 2010-07-04. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
- ^ "Traffic Information - Charles River Basin Project". Archived from the original on 2010-10-22. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
- ^ Cyclist killed is identified as BU graduate student
- ^ State to begin work in June to improve bike safety on road near Museum of Science
References
- The Cambridge Historical Society (1911). Publications. Vol. V.