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Charles River Dam Bridge

Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Photos 

Historical Photo of Original 1910 Bridge

Historical 1930 Photo showing bridge in partially raised position.

Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection

License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

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BH Photo #264122

Map 

Street View 

    Facts 

    Overview
    Bascule bridge over Charles River on MA 28 in Boston
    Location
    Cambridge, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and Middlesex County, Massachusetts
    Status
    Replaced by a new bridge
    History
    Built 1910 as a pair of parallel single leaf bascules; entire superstructure and mechanics demolished and replaced in 1962 with double-leaf bascule; rehabilitated 1992; entire superstructure replaced 2010-2011 with fixed trunnion bascule.
    Design
    Double leaf bascule with variable-depth deck plate girder superstructure
    Dimensions
    Length of largest span: 63.0 ft.
    Total length: 82.0 ft.
    Deck width: 65.0 ft.
    Also called
    Craigie Dam Bridge
    Charles River Bridge
    Craigie Bridge
    Science Museum Bridge
    Approximate latitude, longitude
    +42.36716, -71.06914   (decimal degrees)
    42°22'02" N, 71°04'09" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
    Approximate UTM coordinates
    19/329623/4692617 (zone/easting/northing)
    Quadrangle map:
    Boston South
    Inventory numbers
    MA B16013 (Massachusetts bridge number)
    BH 19445 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

    Categories 

    Bascule (1,040)
    Built 1962 (203)
    Built during 1960s (1,907)
    Cambridge, Massachusetts (9)
    Charles River (45)
    Deck girder (5,019)
    East Coast Greenway (84)
    Girder (9,083)
    Have street view (25,342)
    Lost (22,118)
    Lost 2010 (441)
    Lost during 2010s (2,859)
    MA 28 (11)
    		 Massachusetts (986)
    Middlesex County, Massachusetts (217)
    Movable (2,841)
    Navigable waterway (2,091)
    Owned by state (15,073)
    Plate girder (6,907)
    Replaced by new bridge (14,768)
    Span length 50-75 feet (9,580)
    Steel grate deck (438)
    Structurally deficient (15,903)
    Suffolk County, Massachusetts (101)
    Total length 75-100 feet (6,358)

    Update Log 

    • November 30, 2015: New Street View added by Douglas Butler
    • August 30, 2013: New Street View added by Douglas Butler
    • August 22, 2013: New photos from Douglas Butler
    • August 21, 2013: Updated by Nathan Holth: Corrected and expanded design details. Bridge has been demolished and replaced.

    Related Bridges 

    Sources 

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    Comments 

    Charles River Bridge
    Posted August 21, 2013, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

    This bridge has an unusual history. I updated the page so hopefully it reduces the confusion. It was originally a 1910 single leaf bascule, replaced in 1962 with a double leaf bascule (one of the smallest double leaf bascules I have ever seen) and again demolished and replaced in 2010. As such, the bridge today is modern and has no historic significance.