Rating:
1 vote

Aiken Street Bridge

Middlesex County, Massachusetts
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Photos 

Overview

Photo taken Summer 1990 by Martin Stupich for the Historic American Engineering Record

Map 

Street View 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Five-span through truss bridge over Merrimack River on Aiken Street in Lowell
Location
Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1883 by the Corrugated Metal Co. (Berlin Iron Bridge Co.)
Builder
- Corrugated Metal Co. of East Berlin, Connecticut
Design
Lenticular through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 154.9 ft.
Total length: 779.9 ft.
Deck width: 28.9 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 19.2 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Also called
Joseph R. Oulette Bridge (official name)
Approximate latitude, longitude
+42.65473, -71.31539   (decimal degrees)
42°39'17" N, 71°18'55" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
19/310218/4725073 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Lowell
Inventory numbers
MA L15020 (Massachusetts bridge number)
BH 19344 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 05/2010)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 68.2 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2010)
22,000

Categories 

19th Century (3,821)
Built 1883 (84)
Built during 1880s (1,045)
Corrugated Metal Co. (1)
HAER documented (782)
Have street view (9,891)
Lenticular through truss (22)
Lenticular truss (56)
Lowell, Massachusetts (9)
Massachusetts (431)
 Merrimack River (16)
Middlesex County, Massachusetts (97)
NR-eligible (3,749)
Open (28,310)
Owned by city (3,051)
Span length 125-175 feet (2,954)
Through truss (9,206)
Total length 500-1000 feet (1,805)
Truss (23,569)

Update Log 

  • March 16, 2010: Updated by Joshua Collins: added gps coordinates
  • September 15, 2006: Posted HAER photos

Sources 

  • HAER MA-106 - Aiken Street Bridge, Spanning Merrimack River on Aiken Street, Lowell, Middlesex County, MA
  • Joshua Collins - Bigjc1979 [at] aol [dot] com
  • Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
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Comments 

Aiken Street Bridge
Posted January 4, 2007, by Goyette (N_G_goyette)

I have had recurring dreams and nightmares about passage over the aiken street bridge since I was very young. It has been at least 20 years worth of at least yearly dreams. Most are at night. Most include the bridge crumbling as I try to cross it or get others across it. In actuality, I love this bridge and the others in Lowell and regularly reference them when talking about my hometown. Thank you very much for having these great pictures up in here.