The Boston University Bridge, originally the Cottage Farm Bridge and commonly referred to as the BU Bridge, is a

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as Beam (structure), beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so ...

through arch bridge A through arch bridge, also known as a through-type arch bridge, is a bridge that is made from materials such as steel or reinforced concrete, in which the base of an arch structure is below the deck but the top rises above it. It can either be lo ...

with a suspended deck carrying Route 2 over the

Charles River The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

, connecting the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

campus to

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. The bridge, with the

Grand Junction Railroad Bridge The Grand Junction Railroad Bridge is a steel plate girder bridge that carries the Grand Junction Railroad over the Charles River in Boston. It connects the Boston University campus to Cambridgeport. In September 2009, Massachusetts finalized ...

directly underneath it, is incorrectly rumored to be the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane. Other such places include the

Steel Bridge The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double-deck vertical-lift bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, opened in 1912. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian traffic, while the upper deck carries ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, the

Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. Designed by Leon Moisseiff, the bridge has a tota ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and the

25 de Abril Bridge The 25 de Abril Bridge (, 25th of April Bridge, ) is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, to the municipality of Almada on the left (south) bank of the Tagus, Tagus River. It has a main span length of , ma ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, although all of those bridges feature road and rail on the same span. In this case the rail and road traffic are on separate bridges.

History

The Boston University Bridge was designed by Andrew Canzanelli and built by The Phoenix Bridge Company in 1927, replacing an 1850s

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...

known as the Brookline Bridge. Canzanelli also designed the Weeks footbridge and the first shell constructed on the Esplanade.Alt URL
/ref> In 1949 it was renamed for

, which lies at the southern end of the bridge, after a group of students went to the State House to propose a name change. State Senator John E. Powers sponsored the legislation in May 1949; it passed unanimously. During the period of planning for the Inner Belt, the BU Bridge represented the planned crossing point of the highway from Boston to Cambridge. Several plans were discussed for the area; had the expressway been built over the river, the bridge would have been demolished and replaced with a high-level highway overpass, while if the road had been constructed as a tunnel, the bridge would have been left standing as a crossing for surface route traffic. The bridge crosses diagonally over an older, now single-tracked railroad-only bridge carrying the Grand Junction Line. This bridge, formerly owned by

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

, was purchased by the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

for the

MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

in 2010. The long-postponed

Urban Ring The Urban Ring was a proposed project of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to develop new public transportation routes that would provide improved circumferential connections among ...

mass transit project is expected to include a bridge at or near this location to carry the planned route across the Charles River.

Rehabilitation

In 2008, the bridge deck, including the sidewalks and vehicular surface, was in severe disrepair; the water below was visible through holes in the deck, and the iron stairs leading from

Storrow Drive Storrow Drive, officially James Jackson Storrow Memorial Drive, is a major crosstown parkway in Boston, Massachusetts, running east–west along the southern bank of the Charles River. It is restricted to cars; trucks and buses are not permitt ...

were rusted through. These deficiencies triggered the bridge to be categorized as "structurally deficient" under the federal NBIS standards. Nevertheless, the main structural elements of the bridge have been determined to be sound. The approximately $20 million rehabilitation project was among the first undertaken in the Commonwealth's Accelerated Bridge Program by the bridge owner, the

Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. Th ...

. In June 2008, one traffic lane and the west-side sidewalk was closed to begin this work. The project was done in 3 phases to keep traffic open throughout construction. On December 21, 2011, the project was substantially complete, and the bridge was opened in its final configuration, with one lane entering the bridge in each direction, transitioning on the bridge to two lanes exiting. Two 5-foot bike lines are provided alongside the sidewalks.

References

Notes

External links

* {{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Boston University Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream =

, upstream signs = ''Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority'' , downstream =

Harvard Bridge The Harvard Bridge (also known locally as the MIT Bridge, the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge, and the "Mass. Ave." Bridge) is a steel haunched girder bridge carrying Massachusetts Avenue ( Route 2A) over the Charles River and connecting Back Bay ...

, downstream signs = Bridges in Boston Bridges completed in 1928 Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts Bridges in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Road bridges in Massachusetts Steel bridges in the United States Truss bridges in the United States 1928 establishments in Massachusetts Bridges over the Charles River Through arch bridges in the United States Tied arch bridges in the United States