Puneet Varma (Editor)

General Pierce Bridge

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Crosses
  
Connecticut River

ID number
  
G-12-020

Opened
  
1947

Width
  
7.9 m

Bridge type
  
Truss bridge

Maintained by
  
MassHighway

Design
  
steel truss bridge

Total length
  
230 m

Location
  
Greenfield

Body of water
  
Connecticut River

General Pierce Bridge

Carries
  
vehicular and pedestrian traffic

Locale
  
Greenfield and Montague, Massachusetts

Similar
  
Turners Falls Road Bridge, Gill–Montague Bridge, Calvin Coolidge Bridge, Bulkeley Bridge, Canalside Rail Trail Bridge

General pierce bridge closed due to safety concerns


The General Pierce Bridge is a steel truss road bridge over the Connecticut River between Greenfield, Massachusetts and Montague, Massachusetts carrying Montague City Road.

Contents

Map of General Pierce Bridge, Greenfield, MA 01301, USA

It is currently being scheduled for major repairs. After the Gill - Montague Bridge upstream is refurbished, the state will perform further work on this structure.

Previous structures

The current bridge was preceded at that location by two bridges destroyed in the Flood of 1936. Upstream was the wooden double-decked covered bridge known as the Montague City Bridge, and carried rail traffic on top, with other traffic below. It was built in 1866, and was over 860 feet (260 m) long, with 5 spans. Next was the trolley bridge, which was a metal through-truss.

When the Flood of 1936 came, the trolley bridge was knocked off its piers and sunk into the river, where it remains. The covered rail bridge floated down the river, where it knocked two spans off the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Bridge (now known as the Canalside Rail Trail Bridge), then proceeded down the river to destroy the Sunderland Bridge.

References

General Pierce Bridge Wikipedia