Rating:
8 votes

Aiken Street Bridge

Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Photos 

Overview

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

BH Photo #103411

Map 

Street View 

Facts 

Overview
Five-span lenticular 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 Berlin Iron Bridge Co.; Rehabilitated 1998
Builder
- Berlin Iron Bridge 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.
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)
Quadrangle map:
Lowell
Average daily traffic (as of 2016)
26,000
Inventory numbers
MA L15020 (Massachusetts bridge number)
BH 19344 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of May 2018)
Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 53.4 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

11-panel truss (107)
19th Century (9,794)
Berlin Iron Bridge Co. (203)
Bridgemapper.com (1,325)
Built 1883 (194)
Built during 1880s (2,420)
Finials (239)
HAER documented (1,138)
Have street view (30,587)
Lattice Railing (696)
Lenticular through truss (96)
Lenticular truss (201)
Lowell, Massachusetts (34)
 Massachusetts (1,263)
Merrimack River (61)
Middlesex County, Massachusetts (260)
Open (41,560)
Owned by city (6,315)
Painted red (73)
Pin-connected (5,505)
Span length 125-175 feet (4,618)
Through truss (19,311)
Total length 500-1000 feet (3,220)
Truss (38,697)
Wrought Iron (499)

Update Log 

  • December 31, 2022: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
  • August 17, 2022: Updated by Paul Plassman: Added categories "Finials", "Lattice Railing", "11-panel truss"
  • August 9, 2020: New photos from Nick Boppel
  • May 3, 2014: New photos from Michael Quiet
  • April 5, 2014: New Street View added by Luke Harden
  • April 5, 2014: Updated by Michael Quiet: Added categories "Pin-connected", "Wrought Iron"
  • 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
  • Todd Wilson
  • Michael Quiet - mquiet [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Luke
  • Nick Boppel - nickboppel01 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Geoff Hubbs
Post a comment here

Comments 

Aiken Street Bridge
Posted February 8, 2022, by Greg Albers (gjalbers777 [at] gmail [dot] com)

According to Google Maps, this is now called the Joseph Oulette Memorial Bridge.

Aiken Street Bridge
Posted April 5, 2014, by Tom Hoffman (tehoffm [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Great Lenticular truss bridge! Built in 1883, this rare massive bridge looks to be well kept having a 69 sufficiency rating. Being a rare Lenticular, locals probably realize how important their bridge is. I wish this was the case in other places with historic bridges nationwide.

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.