Arch Bridge (Bellows Falls)
The Bellows Falls Arch Bridge was a three-hinged steel through arch bridge over the Connecticut River between Bellows Falls, Vermont and North Walpole, New Hampshire. It was structurally significant as the longest arch bridge in the United States when it was completed in 1905.
Arch Bridge | |
|---|---|
1905 arch bridge in Bellows Falls, Vermont over the Connecticut River | |
| Coordinates | 43.1380°N 72.4484°W |
| Carries | Vehicles, pedestrians |
| Crosses | Connecticut River |
| Locale | Bellows Falls, Vermont to North Walpole, New Hampshire |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | three-hinged through arch bridge plus a bowstring arch truss (1st) 4-span girder bridge (2nd) |
| Material | Steel (both) |
| Total length | 644 feet 8 inches (196.49 m) 540 feet (160 m) (main span over river) 104 feet 8 inches (31.90 m) (over rail track) (1st) |
| Width | 32 feet (9.8 m) (1st) |
| Height | 70 feet (21 m) above the roadway (1st) |
| Longest span | 540 feet (160 m) (1st) |
| No. of spans | 2 (1st) 4 (2nd) |
| Piers in water | 0 (1st) 3 (2nd) |
| History | |
| Designer | Joseph R. Worcester |
| Constructed by | Lewis F. Shoemaker & Co. (1st) |
| Construction start | 1904 (1st) |
| Construction end | 1905 (1st) 1984 (2nd) |
| Closed | 1971 (1st) |
| Location | |
The bridge was built to circumvent an existing toll bridge and prevent people from using the Boston and Maine Railroad bridge, a practice the railroad preferred to discourage.
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