Northwest Road Bridge

Photos

General View From Downstream; View To Northwest

Photo taken by Martin Stupich for the Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #309210

Map

Maps and Databases

Description

The Northwest Road Bridge is the second-oldest of four lenticular pony truss bridges and the fifth-oldest of seven extant lenticular trusses of all types in the Massachusetts Highway Department data base. It is the most typical pony truss example of William O. Douglas's first patent, among the three examples in the data base. It is notable for such early features as the tapered floor beams, looped-rod floor beam hangers, and the floor-level wind-truss struts in every panel - features not commonly found in later lenticular truss bridges. The bridge was manufactured by an important late-nineteenth-century bridge fabricator, the Berlin Iron Bridge Company, and is a rare surviving example of a type of metal truss bridge that was once common in Massachusetts.

-- Historic American Engineering Record

Facts

Overview: Lost Lenticular pony truss bridge over Little River on Northwest Road
Location: Westfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts
Status: Relocated to Millbury, MA
History: Built 1887; relocated 2001
Builder: - Berlin Iron Bridge Co. of East Berlin, Connecticut
Design: Lenticular pony truss
Dimensions: Total length: 74.0 ft.
Deck width: 16.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude: +42.13041, -72.82262 (decimal degrees)
42°07'49" N, 72°49'21" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 18/679961/4666549 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:: Woronoco
Inventory number: BH 64288 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Update Log

November 28, 2014: Added by Ian Martin

Related Bridges

Blackstone River Bikeway - Blackstone River Bridge (Parts reused in)

Sources

Ian Martin
HAER MA-142 - Northwest Road Bridge, Spanning Little River, Westfield, Hampden County, MA