The Linden Street Bridge is an abandoned Central Massachusetts Railroad bridge over Linden Street (Massachusetts Route 60) in Waltham, Massachusetts. A restoration of the bridge is under construction as a part of the Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside (MCRT—Wayside) project.[2] It is a riveted lattice through truss bridge, built in 1894 by the Pennsylvania Steel Company, and is one of only three such bridges left in the state. The bridge is 98 feet 3 inches (29.95 m) long and 17 feet (5.2 m) wide, with an inside truss height of 21 feet 11.5 inches (6.693 m), and rests on granite abutments. The design of the bridge was based on that of the Northampton crossing of the Connecticut River by the same railroad.

History

The Linden Street Bridge in 1982

By 1971, all passenger service ended on the Central Mass Branch.[3]: 332  On December 27, 1976 the Boston and Maine Railroad sold the Central Mass Branch as well as several other lines to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), but retained freight obligations.[3]: 334  This section of the Central Mass Branch, and the bridge, have been out of service since 1994 when service to the last customer, a lumber dealer located on Emerson Road, ended.[4][5]: 137–138 

The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.[1] In 2002, the Wayside Rail Trail Committee held the Golden Spike 2002 event adjacent to the bridge, where statewide advocates unified on the Mass Central Rail Trail name for the greater project between Boston and Northampton.[6] In 2010, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) signed a 99-year lease with the MBTA to build the Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside from Waltham to Berlin.[7]: 6 

In 2022 and 2023, Waltham received two reimbursement based, $500,000 MassTrails grants intended to fund restoration of the bridge for the MCRT—Wayside, matching $9,300,000 spent on a 2.75 mile trail section built in Waltham.[8][9]: 9 [10]: 11 [11] However, Waltham did not proceed with the bridge restoration. In September 2024, DCR announced it would fund restoration of the bridge.[12] Construction began in December 2024 and is estimated to complete in summer/fall 2025.[2][13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ a b Kish, Patrice (December 4, 2024). "Notice to Proceed RE: MCRT Waltham Linden Street Bridge". Department of Conservation and Recreation. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  3. ^ a b Belcher, Jonathan (March 19, 2016). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district 1964–2016" (PDF). NETransit. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  4. ^ Karr, Ronald (2010). Lost Railroads of New England. Branch Line Press. ISBN 9780942147117.
  5. ^ The Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society, Inc. (2008). The Central Mass (Second ed.). Brimfield, MA: Marker Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-9662736-3-2.
  6. ^ "Past Golden Spike Events". Golden Spike 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  7. ^ Fox, Pamela W. (Spring 2018). "Weston Historical Society Bulletin Vol XLIX, No.1: 1997: Weston Derails the Rail Trail" (PDF). Weston Historical Society. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  8. ^ Lewis, Amanda (January 1, 2024). "MassTrails Grants". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  9. ^ "2022 MassTrails Awards (81 Projects)". MassTrails. June 30, 2022.
  10. ^ "2023 MassTrails Grant Awards (68 Projects)". MassTrails. June 14, 2023. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  11. ^ Sandoli, Annie (March 3, 2022). "Waltham Mayor Requesting $9.3M For Wayside Rail Trail". Waltham, MA Patch. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
  12. ^ Autler, Gerald. "Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside". Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
  13. ^ Wangler, Chris (February 27, 2025). "Linden Street Bridge Restoration Moving Ahead". WCAC-TV. Retrieved March 10, 2025.

Media related to Linden Street Bridge at Wikimedia Commons


Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linden_Street_Bridge
No tags for this post.