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Androscoggin River Railroad Bridge

Cumberland County, Maine, and Sagadahoc County, Maine
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Photos 

ME-67-1

Photo by Jet Lowe, Photographer, 1994 for HAER

View photos at Library of Congress

Map 

Street Views 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Androscoggin River on MCRR in Brunswick
Location
Brunswick, Cumberland County, Maine, and Sagadahoc County, Maine
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1909; rehabilitated 1987
Builder
- Pennsylvania Steel Co. of Steelton, Pennsylvania
Design
318' length, 2-span riveted Baltimore truss with suspended lower roadway. Lower deck is attached by pin-connected eyebars below the bottom chords of the trusses. North approach span is original. South approach is a steel girder thru span added when Rte. 1 was widened to four lanes in 1957. Ashlar coursed piers and abutments, wooden decks and deck railings.

Part of building/structure is in Topsham, Sagadahoc County, ME.

Significance: Only identified example of an unusual double-deck railroad and suspended vehicular bridge in the state, and a fine example of a rivet-connected Baltimore thru truss design. It is one of only four 1890-1928 Baltimore truss bridges identified in a recent state bridge survey. It was built in 1909 to replace an 1880 double-deck bridge, and illustrates the evolution of the truss type into a heavily-built structure capable of supporting increased locomotive weights. It carries a minor branch of the Maine Central, today used for local traffic, and is an alternate route to a larger road bridge downstream for road travel between Brunswick and Topsham.

Katherine Larson Farnham, HAER, November 1999
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Dimensions
Length of largest span: 200.1 ft.
Total length: 317.9 ft.
Deck width: 12.5 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 10.7 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Also called
Free-Black Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+43.91607, -69.97513   (decimal degrees)
43°54'58" N, 69°58'30" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
19/421709/4863013 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Brunswick
Inventory numbers
ME 0323 (Maine bridge number)
BH 19827 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 07/2011)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 0.0 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2011)
1,586

Categories 

Baltimore through truss (148)
Baltimore truss (162)
Brunswick, Maine (3)
Built 1909 (473)
Built during 1900s (4,243)
Cumberland County, Maine (27)
Double decker (32)
Flared (407)
Have street view (9,883)
Maine (187)
Maine Central Railroad (3)
NR-eligible (3,749)
 Open (28,300)
Owned by state (9,805)
Pennsylvania Steel Co. (33)
Railroad (4,063)
Sagadahoc County, Maine (12)
Span length 175-250 feet (1,482)
Structurally deficient (16,677)
Sufficiency rating zero (308)
Through truss (9,202)
Total length 250-500 feet (3,367)
Truss (23,562)
Wooden deck (5,397)

Update Log 

  • May 13, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added categories "Maine Central Railroad", "Railroad"
  • June 16, 2011: Updated by Nathan Holth: Added GPS and Street View
  • November 16, 2008: New photo from J.R. Manning

Sources 

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Comments 

Androscoggin River Railroad Bridge
Posted July 15, 2011, by Matt Lohry

I assume this bridge is classified as a Baltimore by HAER--I believe that it is rather a subdivided Warren truss, as you can trace the main diagonals without lifting your finger.

Androscoggin River Railroad Bridge
Posted July 15, 2011, by Insaneboy (spm [at] macomber [dot] com)

Road portion of the bridge was closed April 6, due to an accident(car hit one of the steel support rods). inspected July 11th, and found extensive repairs are necessary. MDOT does not have the funding for repairs. So the road portion closed until further notice. Railroad section is unaffected and remains opened.