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Old Bridge over Naugatuck River
Description
Although this bridge is paved for vehicular traffic, it is unknown what street it was part of; historical maps show nothing at this site. With the north end of the bridge fenced off, access is limited to the south, in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Bridges sole function at present is to carry utility pipes across the river.Facts
- Overview
- Pony plate girder bridge over West Branch Naugatuck River, Torrington
- Location
- Torrington, Litchfield County, Connecticut
- Status
- Accessable to pedestrians from one end only
- Design
- Pony plate girder
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.80082, -73.12533 (decimal degrees)
41°48'03" N, 73°07'31" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/655742/4629360 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- West Torrington
- Inventory number
- BH 63264 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- June 14, 2017: Updated by Chester Gehman: Added photos and description.
- October 4, 2014: Added by Royce and Bobette Haley
Sources
- Royce and Bobette Haley - roycehaley111 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Chester Gehman - gehmanc2000 [at] yahoo [dot] com
Comments
Old Bridge over Naugatuck River
I don't believe this is an old railroad bridge. The adjacent line, which is the old Naugatuck Railroad main, is at a higher elevation. Secondly, this bridge is much wider than a spur line bridge would expected to be--twice as wide as the adjacent main line bridge. Since this used to be an industrial area, my vote would be a private industrial bridge to join buildings on either side of the river. At any rate, more research is needed.
Old Bridge over Naugatuck River
I checked out some old aerial imagery. It looks like there used to be a spur line that curved off the adjacent rail line and crossed the river to serve a factory on Water Street.
I couldn't see any time that it was used for road use though, so I can't speculate as to when or why it was paved over.
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This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ct/litchfield/bh63264/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ct/litchfield/bh63264/
I agree, more research is needed. But a quick thought on the width though, as I considered that as well: Since the line was operating on a curve, it would have to be wider to accommodate it. I've seen a few other examples in my time where a through railraod bridge was wider then normal to accommodate a curvature.
But either way it was definitely built for some use of the factory complex that was here.