The Bardwell's Ferry Bridge, built in 1882, is a historic

lenticular truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as 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 that the assembla ...

bridge spanning the

Deerfield River Deerfield River is a river that runs for from southern Vermont through northwestern Massachusetts to the Connecticut River. The Deerfield River was historically influential in the settlement of western Franklin County, Massachusetts, and its ...

between the towns of Shelburne and

Conway Conway may refer to: Places United States * Conway, Arkansas * Conway County, Arkansas * Lake Conway, Arkansas * Conway, Florida * Conway, Iowa * Conway, Kansas * Conway, Louisiana * Conway, Massachusetts * Conway, Michigan * Conway Townshi ...

Franklin County, Massachusetts Franklin County is a nongovernmental county in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 71,029, which made it the least populous county on the Massachusetts mainland, and the third leas ...

. The bridge is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

and is designated as a Massachusetts Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the

American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...

Description

The Bardwell's Ferry Bridge carries Bardwell's Ferry Road across the

. The bridge is situated within a deep valley, with sharply sloping roadways on each side. Built by the Berlin Iron Bridge Co. of

East Berlin, Connecticut East Berlin is a section of the town of Berlin in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a ...

, the bridge is long, consisting of 13 panels. It is the longest single span lenticular bridge in

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 ...

. The end posts and upper chords are built-up open box members, consisting riveted plates and angles giving dimensions of . The lower chords are constructed from eye bars. The bridge deck is wide and is constructed of wooden planks. During the latter part of the 19th century, the Berlin Iron Bridge Co. manufactured and erected almost 800 lenticular truss bridges in the United States (Darnell 1979). While most of these bridges were built in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, a few were constructed in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. These bridges are sometimes referred to as "pumpkin-seed bridges", "cats-eyes bridges", "elliptical truss bridges", or "parabolic truss bridges" because of their unique lens shape. Lenticular bridges were only used for vehicular traffic and were generally considered too light to be used for railroad and trolley loads. On August 24, 2023 the bridge was closed by Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) because it was structurally deficient and unsafe to travel on. No date for reopening was given by MassDOT.https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=131241490057089&set=pb.100095137153916.-2207520000 The Bardwell's Ferry Bridge was restored in the 1990s, and added to the

in 2000.

References

External links

1998 Federal Highway Administration Award
* {{Authority control Bridges completed in 1880 Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Truss bridges in the United States Bridges in Franklin County, Massachusetts Historic American Engineering Record in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, Massachusetts 1882 establishments in Massachusetts Conway, Massachusetts

Description

See also

References

External links