Charlestown Bridge
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The Charlestown Bridge, officially named the William Felton "Bill" Russell Bridge, is located in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and spans 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 ...
. As the river's easternmost crossing, the bridge connects the neighborhoods of Charlestown and the North End. The bridge carries a portion of the
Freedom Trail The Freedom Trail is a path through Boston that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. It winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston, to the Old North Church in the North End and the Bunker Hill Monument i ...
linking to the
USS Constitution USS ''Constitution'', also known as ''Old Ironsides'', is a Full-rigged ship, three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's List of oldest surviving ships, oldest commissioned naval warship still afloat ...
and Bunker Hill. To the north of the bridge, Route 99 begins and the street becomes New Rutherford Avenue. The original structure was completed in 1900. Replacement of that bridge started in fall 2018 and is expected to be completed in early 2025. The new bridge was named in honor of
Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played Center (basketball), center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was t ...
, a notable figure in the history of the Boston Celtics and a recipient of the
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...
, in October 2024.


Original bridge

The first government-sanctioned ferry crossing of the Charles was chartered at this location in the 1630s. It was operated by various individuals until it was given to
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
"in perpetuity" in 1640, to support the college financially. In 1640, the
Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. Th ...
granted Harvard College the revenue from the Boston-Charlestown ferry to help support the institution. The Harvard Corporation in its capacity managed the Charlestown ferry from the 1640s until 1785, and after the completion of the Charles River Bridge in 1785. The first bridge on this site was known as the Charles River Bridge, chartered in 1785 and opened on June 17, 1786. As a condition of chartering the bridge, a sum of £200 was paid annually to Harvard College to compensate for the lost ferry income. The bridge was privately built and operated, with tolls producing profits for the investors during the charter period, after the initial expense was paid off. In 1792, the
West Boston Bridge The Longfellow Bridge is a steel rib arch bridge spanning the Charles River to connect Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood with the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The bridge carries Massachusetts Route 3, the MBTA Red Line, ...
was chartered, connecting West Boston to Cambridge. In compensation, the legislature extended the charter period of the Charles River Bridge by 30 years, but the unpopular double tolls on Sundays were eliminated. Traffic to the bridge was facilitated by the laying out of the
Medford Turnpike The Medford Turnpike is a road mostly in modern-day Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, now known as Mystic Avenue. It was laid out in 1803 as a result of the 1786 Charles River Bridge from Charlestown to Boston. In historic terms, it ran ...
in 1803. When the
Warren Bridge The Warren Bridge connected downtown Boston, Massachusetts with Charlestown from its construction in the 1820s until its demolition in 1962. It was replaced by the Charles River Dam in 1978. The Warren Bridge was requested in 1823 and chart ...
was chartered in 1828 in a location extremely close to the Charles River Bridge, the investors filed a lawsuit which eventually reached the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
as Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge. The bridge that stood into the 21st century was built in 1900 under chief engineer William Jackson, and was designed to carry the
Charlestown Elevated The Charlestown Elevated was a segment of the MBTA Orange Line rapid transit line that ran from the Canal Street Incline in downtown Boston, Massachusetts through Charlestown to a terminal in Everett, Massachusetts. It opened in June 1901 an ...
railway in addition to vehicle traffic. The railway was demolished in 1975 to make way for its replacement, 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 ...
Orange Line's
Haymarket North Extension The Haymarket North Extension is a section of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's rapid transit Orange Line (MBTA), Orange Line which currently constitutes the northern section of the line. It runs from North Station (subway), North ...
. The new line was rerouted to avoid having to pass directly through the densely populated Charlestown neighborhood. The Haymarket Tunnel, emerging from under both North Station and the Charles River just south of the new Orange Line
Community College station Community College station is a rapid transit station on the MBTA Orange Line in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located in the Charlestown neighborhood off Austin Street near New Rutherford Avenue ( MA-99), under the double-decked elevated struc ...
, was inaugurated in 1975 as the designated tunnel for Orange Line trains. Because the bridge was originally designed to accommodate an
elevated railroad An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train or el for short) is a railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks). The rai ...
in addition to automobiles, the bridge spanned six lanes. In 2003, the center two lanes were permanently closed. The bridge formerly carried the southernmost stretch of
Massachusetts Route 99 Route 99 is a north–south state highway in metropolitan Boston, leading from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown through the northern suburbs of Everett, Malden, and Melrose, and terminating in Saugus at U.S. Route 1 (US 1). Ro ...
to its terminus at the river, but following completion of the
Big Dig The Big Dig was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the then elevated Central Artery of Interstate 93 that cut across Boston into the O'Neill Tunnel and built the Ted Williams Tunnel to extend Massachusetts Turnpike, Interstate 90 to Logan I ...
in the late 2000s, the route's designation was changed to relocate the terminus to Chelsea Street in Charlestown.


Replacement bridge

Construction work on a replacement bridge began in the fall of 2018. The design for the new bridge, by architect
Miguel Rosales Miguel Rosales (born 1961 in Guatemala) is president and principal designer of Rosales + Partners, an architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. He specializes in bridge aesthetics and design. Some examples of these bridges include; Phy ...
in collaboration with Alfred Benesch & Company, is intended to complement the nearby
Zakim Bridge The Leonard P. Zakim () Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (also known as "The Zakim") is a cable-stayed bridge completed in 2003 across the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a replacement for the Charlestown High Bridge, an older truss b ...
(with which Rosales was also involved). The new bridge is slated to have two vehicular lanes in each direction, a dedicated southbound bus lane, and a protected bicycle lane and sidewalk on each side. During construction, a temporary bridge has been installed to carry pedestrians and three lanes of vehicular traffic. The new $180 million bridge was expected to be completed in 2023 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Zakim Bridge. However, due to defects discovered on September 29, 2021, in some of the welds/connections of a portion of the installed steel tub girders, project completion has been delayed until early 2025.


Naming

The bridge (both the structure built in 1900 and its replacement) was officially named the North Washington Street Bridge until 2024. In October 2024, the new bridge was officially named the William Felton "Bill" Russell Bridge in honor of
Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played Center (basketball), center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was t ...
. Russell was a player and
player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...
for the
Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...
during 1956–1969, during which the team won 11
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
championships. Locally, the bridge has been commonly known as the Charlestown Bridge, although ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' has noted that residents of Charlestown called it the North End Bridge. The ''Globe'' has opined the 2024 naming of the bridge after Bill Russell "puts an end to the hundred-year argument over whether the span should be known as the 'Charlestown Bridge' or the 'North End Bridge'."


Gallery

File:Charlestown Bridge MA 03.jpg, Bridge and approaches, with Charlestown in the background File:Charlestown Bridge.jpg, Charlestown Bridge, looking north. The red line on the pavement indicates the
Freedom Trail The Freedom Trail is a path through Boston that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. It winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston, to the Old North Church in the North End and the Bunker Hill Monument i ...
. File:Charlestown Bridge and Custom House Tower HDR.jpg, View towards downtown Boston and the
Custom House Tower The Custom House Tower is a skyscraper in McKinley Square, in the Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts. The original building, the Custom House, was constructed between 1837 and 1847 and was designed by Ammi Burnham Young in the Greek Rev ...
File:Charlestown brdg.jpg, Bridge approaches looking into downtown Boston File:Bus 111 North Washington Street Bridge.jpg, Bus 111 on the bridge


See also

*
List of crossings of the Charles River This is a list of the crossings of the Charles River from its mouth at Boston Harbor upstream to its source at Echo Lake (the four Boston Harbor tunnel (disambiguation), tunnels crossing the inner portion of Boston Harbor are not included). All ...


Notes


References


External links

*
Various photos, 1899-1929


{{Portal bar, Engineering, Transport Charlestown, Boston Bridges in Boston Landmarks in Charlestown, Boston Railroad bridges in Massachusetts Bridges completed in 1900 North End, Boston Former toll bridges in Massachusetts Bridges over the Charles River Plate girder bridges in the United States 1900 establishments in Massachusetts