Longfellow Bridge

[5] A portion of the MBTA subway's elevated Charles/MGH station lies at the eastern end of the bridge, which connects to Charles Circle.It consists of eleven steel arch spans supported on ten masonry piers and two massive abutments.They refer to a purported voyage by Leif Eriksson up the Charles River circa 1000 AD, promoted at the time by Harvard professor Eben Horsford.[10] The bridge was the primary Boston–Cambridge link for the growing horsecar system, which was eventually consolidated as the West End Street Railway.These moves, usually performed late at night, allow trains to reach the Eliot Shops, as the East Boston Tunnel had no heavy maintenance facility.[23] In mid-2008, two state employees stole 2,347 feet (715 m) of decorative iron trim that had been removed from the bridge for refurbishment, and sold it for scrap.The men, one of whom was a Department of Conservation and Recreation district manager, were charged with receiving $12,147 for the historic original parapet coping.On August 4, 2008, Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a $3 billion Massachusetts bridge repair funding package he had sponsored.[26] The funds raised from the sale of bonds were used to pay for the rehabilitation of the Longfellow Bridge, the preliminary cost estimated at $267.5 million.[31] A $255 million project started construction in the summer of 2013 to replace structural elements of the bridge, and restore its historic character.[32] The project was expected to require at least 25 weekend shutdowns of MBTA Red Line subway service to accommodate construction, including multiple temporary relocations of the rapid transit tracks.The primary aim of the rehabilitation project was to address the bridge's structural deficiencies, upgrade its capacity and bring it up to date with modern codes while also preserving its visual and historic architectural character.[38] After years of delays, the bridge was fully reopened on May 31, 2018,[39] but portions of the project, such as replacing the pedestrian footbridge over Storrow Drive, were completed by the fall of 2018.
The main piers have sculptures that represent the prows of Viking ships .
The predecessor West Boston Bridge, c. 1864 .
The new Cambridge Bridge viewed from Boston, sometime between 1906 and 1912. Streetcar tracks can be seen on each side, but the central rapid transit tracks are not yet in use.
The fenced-off sidewalk on the south side of the bridge, pre-restoration.
Paint chipping off the degraded railing.
Emergency repairs under way, July 2011
Structural elements on a barge in Cambridge, Massachusetts , waiting to be installed
CoordinatesRoute 3MBTA Red LineCharles RiverBostonMassachusettsCambridge, MassachusettsMassachusetts Department of Transportationarch bridgeDaily trafficBeacon HillKendall SquareCambridgeMassachusetts Route 3Red Linethe shapeMBTA subwayCharles/MGH stationCharles CircleViking shipsLeif ErikssonEben HorsfordBoston Globeland was reclaimedCambridge and Concord TurnpikehorsecarCambridge RailroadBowdoin SquareHarvard SquareWest End Street RailwayBoston Elevated Railway CompanyWillam JacksonEdmund M. WheelwrightColumbian ExpositionEuropedraw bridgeWilliam McKinleyMassachusetts General CourtHenry Wadsworth LongfellowStorrow DriveCharles River EsplanadeFrances Appleton Bridgepedestrian bridgeCambridge–Dorchester linePark StreetCharles stationMassachusetts General HospitalEast Boston TunnelDeval PatrickDepartment of Conservation and RecreationADA compliancepaint primercomputer animationJacobs EngineeringSTV, Inc.rivetingEast CambridgeList of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in MassachusettsJackson, WilliamBoston, MassachusettsWayback MachineArgus LeaderSioux Falls, South DakotaChicago TribuneMIT PressDetroit Free PressBoston.comThe Boston GlobeUniversity of Massachusetts BostonNational Trust for Historic PreservationStructuraeCrossingsHarvard BridgeCharles River Dam BridgeOutre-MerHyperionKavanaghA Psalm of LifeExcelsiorThe Village BlacksmithThe Wreck of the HesperusPoems on SlaveryEvangelineThe Song of HiawathaThe Death of MinnehahaThe Courtship of Miles StandishThe Children's HourPaul Revere's RideThe Saga of King OlafTales of a Wayside InnChristmas BellsThe Sermon of St. FrancisAlexander S. WadsworthAlexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr.Alice Mary LongfellowErnest Wadsworth LongfellowNathan AppletonPeleg WadsworthRichard BonythonRichard Henry Dana IIISamuel LongfellowStephen LongfellowBirthplaceWadsworth-Longfellow HouseLongfellow HouseLongfellow SquarePortland, Maine memorialWashington, D.C. memorialLongfellow-Evangeline State Historic SiteLongfellow MountainsDante Society of America"Whom the gods would destroy"