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Niantic River Railroad Bridge

New London County, Connecticut
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Photos 

View, Looking North, Showing Bridge Closed

Photo taken for the Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

Map 

Description 

The Niantic Bridge is a through girder bridge and consists of a movable span and four approach spans on stone masonry piers. The movable span is a chain-driven Scherzer rolling lift bascule span with overhead counterweight. It is significant as part of the transportation link in the shoreline route of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, and as an individual engineering solution to the need to provide dependable rail service while accommodating river navigation.

-- Historic American Engineering Record

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Niantic River on Railroad
Location
Niantic, New London County, Connecticut
Status
Replaced by a new bridge
Future prospects
Scheduled for replacement.
History
Built 1907; Replaced 2012
Builders
- King Bridge Co. of Cleveland, Ohio
- Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co. of Chicago, Illinois
Design
Pony plate girder
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 76.0 ft.
Total length: 291.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.32255, -72.17693   (decimal degrees)
41°19'21" N, 72°10'37" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/736276/4578408 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Niantic
Inventory number
BH 53039 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Bascule (559)
Built 1907 (375)
Built during 1900s (4,246)
Connecticut (265)
Doomed (786)
Girder (3,233)
HAER documented (781)
King Bridge Co. (160)
Lost (10,355)
Lost 2012 (137)
Lost during 2010s (680)
Movable (1,355)
 Navigable waterway (1,448)
New London County, Connecticut (18)
New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (8)
Niantic, Connecticut (1)
Owned by railroad (4,037)
Plate girder (2,248)
Railroad (4,068)
Replaced by new bridge (7,132)
Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co. (8)
Span length 75-100 feet (4,718)
Through girder (1,134)
Total length 250-500 feet (3,370)

Update Log 

  • October 3, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Replacement underway
  • July 31, 2012: Added by Luke Harden

Sources 

  • Luke Harden - lukemh9 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • HAER CT-27 - New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, Niantic Bridge, Spanning Niantic River between East Lyme & Waterford, Old Lyme, New London County, CT

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