ID number D06033/M28019 Number of spans 3 | Opened 1880 Bridge type Truss bridge | |
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Design Through truss bridge1 × Whipple truss2 × Warren truss Material Cast or Wrought Iron, on masonry piers Similar Springfield Terminal railroad b, Sunderland Bridge, Calvin Coolidge Bridge, Bulkeley Bridge, Wells River Bridge | ||
The Canalside Rail Trail Bridge (also known as the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (Turners Falls Branch) Bridge) is a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (Turner Falls Branch) rail bridge across the Connecticut River between Deerfield and Montague, Massachusetts. The bridge (Massachusetts numbers: D06033/M28019) is on the Massachusetts Historic Bridge Inventory as a "Historic Metal Truss Bridge", currently the sixth oldest metal truss bridge on the state-wide historic registry. The Canalside Rail Trail, completed in Spring 2008, incorporates this bridge.
History and construction of the bridge
Originally built in 1880 by Keystone Bridge Co., Pittsburgh, PA, two of its three spans were knocked off their piers by the floating Montague City Covered Bridge during the 1936 flood. Subsequently, those spans were rebuilt and replaced in 1936 by the Phoenix Bridge Company, Phoenixville, PA. The remaining span of the original bridge is the oldest surviving span across the Connecticut River. The older span is a Whipple truss design. The newer spans use a modified Warren truss design (vertical truss members are added to the traditional form of a Warren truss).
The bridge was refurbished in 2006 to be part of the new Canalside Rail Trail. However, though the bridge can now be used, the refurbishing is not complete as of July 2007. The western pier has some stones out of place and some stones fallen off. There is currently work going on to fix this issue.