Town Line Bridge
View from the riverbed
Photo taken by Michael Quiet in August 2015
BH Photo #334766
Located on a closed section of a small dirt road in rural New York is a historic lenticular through truss bridge built by the prolific Berlin Iron Bridge Co. While already notable and historically significant as one of a small group of remaining lenticular through truss bridges, this is also an important bridge due to its very short length of 83 feet, which probably represented the lower limit for the length of a through truss configuration as lenticular pony trusses had been able to approach this length.
Fabricated in 1888, this employs the standard features of a lenticular truss such as wrought iron construction, pin connections, and a single remaining cast iron finial. The guardrails are of simple steel wire, and the bridge rests on stone abutments. The western abutment has been faced in concrete, whereas the eastern side remains in its original condition. The wooden deck, last rehabilitated in 1976 remains in fair enough condition to be crossed with no worries. The bridge was closed to traffic circa 1990, but is still used as a pedestrian bridge for snowmobile traffic and for anglers as this is a popular fishing spot.
The bridge itself is in poor shape, and will require corrective work to be done so that it can continue to serve local residents in its limited capacity. A large concern is that the western abutment is beginning to crumble, which in turn is causing a large amount of stress on the truss. The northwestern end post has seen the largest affect from this, and is supported by two large steel I beams in a attempt to stabilize it. Shifting of the bridge has caused bowing of the lower chord and strut bracing in the southwest corner, which if it continues could be catastrophic for the truss.
On the eastern side of the bridge is a 1903 riveted warren pony truss fabricated by the equally prolific Groton Bridge Co. (An interesting mix for sure of the regions two most important bridge builders in the last quarter of the 19th century!). This bridge was built to cross a spillway from an adjacent sawmill and features a very light construction method. The spillway has long since been abandoned and reclaimed by nature, to the point that the bridge now meets the ground and thus doesn’t cross anything.
Sadly this bridge was removed in late 2018 due to the neglect of the Western side abutment which crumbled further so the bridge was removed and the remains of the crumbled abutment lay next to it. They even removed the little Groton bridge that sat next to the joining road. A seriously tragic loss that could easily have been prevented by repairing the Western abutment! Apparently the 2008 branding of being a historical place meant nothing in this case!