Rating:
4 votes
NS - Willow Avenue Overpass
Description
An 8 rib, skewed, brick arch railway underpass, with coursed ashlar wingwalls and bluestone stonework forming the outer 2 ribs and the top edge along the deck. Each arch rib is offset about 2 feet from the next one at the base, but smoothly concurrent at the crown. This gives the arch a look of 8 arch "slices" laid together, for a very impressive effect. Wingwall on one side is straight and slightly less than vertical, while on the other is semi-circular concave and stepped down from the top of the overpass. Together the walls make you feel like you're being rammed down a funnel, even though the arch opening is easily 20 feet high if not more.This is an absolutely delightful example of the mason's art, and hardly a brick has dislodged in the century and more since it's creation.
This one lane underpass is imposing in it's height, but most of the details remain in shadow most of the time. You have to stop and investigate to find them.
Facts
- Overview
- Stone arch bridge over Willow Avenue on Railroad
- Location
- Bloomsbury, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
- Status
- Open to traffic
- Railroads
- - Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ)
- Conrail (CR)
- Norfolk Southern Railway (NS)
- Design
- Brick arch / Stone arch
- Skew angle
- 45 degrees
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.65229, -75.09025 (decimal degrees)
40°39'08" N, 75°05'25" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/492370/4500163 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Bloomsbury
- Inventory number
- BH 53587 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- December 28, 2020: New photo from Patrick Gurwell
- March 13, 2020: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- November 1, 2016: New Street View added by Dana and Kay Klein
- September 25, 2012: Updated by Andrew Pearce: added detailed description and one of my own photos.
- September 21, 2012: Added by Luke Harden
Sources
- Luke
- Dana and Kay Klein
- Geoff Hubbs
- Patrick Gurwell - pgurwell [at] gmail [dot] com
© Copyright 2021, Historic Bridge Foundation and contributors.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/nj/hunterdon/bh53587/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/nj/hunterdon/bh53587/
I see this is listed as still actually used!! Wow!! It is beautiful!!
Thanks for using my pix of it. It is a fav subject of mine. I need to get over there again and photograph it.
I read in a CNJ history that the line was completed to Phillipsburg in 1852 so this bridge was probably built about 1850--52!! You just can't beat that craftsmanship!! Very few of the bricks have fallen out over like 165 years of heavy locomotives and carloads of coal and everything else. Truly amazing. I found it accidentally while driving the older alignments of Old US 22/Easton Turnpike/New Brunswick Turnpike.