The Charles River Dam Bridge, officially the Craigie Bridge, also called Craigie's Bridge or the Canal Bridge, is a six-lane

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

across 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 ...

in the West End neighborhood of

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 ...

. The bridge, maintained by the

Massachusetts 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 ...

(DCR, formerly the MDC), carries

Massachusetts Route 28 Route 28 is a nominally south–north state highway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, running from the town of Eastham, Massachusetts, Eastham via Boston, Massachusetts, Boston to the New Hampshire state line in Methuen, Massachusetts, M ...

(Charles River Dam Road at this location) next to the Green Line's Lechmere Viaduct. The Museum of Science is located on the dam and nearby piers. Charles River Dam Road connects Leverett Circle in the West End to East Cambridge, but most of the road is fixed, and the asymmetrically sited drawbridge is a short span entirely on the Boston side of the river. The original

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

for the Charles River was incorporated into the dam, just west of the Charles River Dam Bridge, but it was replaced by three parallel locks in the new

Charles River Dam The Charles River Dam is a flood control structure on the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, located just downstream of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, near Lovejoy Wharf, on the former location of the Warren Bridge. His ...

, located further east, at the site of the old Warren Bridge. The former lock at the Charles River Dam Bridge now allows water and small ships to flow freely. Taller ships require the opening of the drawbridge, operated by the

Massachusetts Department of Transportation The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Sessio ...

History

The first bridge on the site was known as the Canal Bridge, named after the

Middlesex Canal The Middlesex Canal was a 27-mile (44-kilometer) barge canal connecting the Merrimack River with the port of Boston. When operational it was 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, and 3 feet (0.9 m) deep, with 20 locks, each 80 feet (24 m) long and between 10 ...

which ran from the Charlestown Mill Pond to Middlesex Village in East Chelmsford Massachusetts; later p/o Lowell. As an investment, businessman

Andrew Craigie Andrew Craigie (1754–1819) is best known for serving as the first Apothecary General of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. The one-time owner of the Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Craigi ...

purchased the largely undeveloped farmland on the Cambridge side around Lechmere Point from various owners (including Mary Lechmere and heirs) in preparation for building the bridge. The investors incorporated in 1807 with a charter to build a bridge from Leverett Street in the West End, Boston to the eastern end of Lechmere Point. One-third of shares were owned by the Middlesex Canal Corporation. The bridge opened in 1809, and came to be known as Craigie's Bridge. The construction of the bridge prompted the laying out of roads to the center of Cambridge (now Cambridge Street, running to Harvard Square) and Somerville/Medford (Bridge Street, now Monsignor O'Brien Highway/

). Craigie and associates, who formed the Lechemere Point Corporation, benefited from the building boom that followed, spurred on by their efforts to expand the public street grid. Residential cross streets were constructed and some were named after investors (Otis, Thorndike, and Gore). The bridge was sold to the Hancock Free Bridge Corporation in 1846, and became toll-free on January 30, 1858. The current bridge was constructed in 1910, along with the dam that turned the lower Charles River from a tidal

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

into a fresh-water basin. This reduced the problematic odor from raw sewage flowing into the river by keeping the formerly tidal lands covered with water. It was completed on June 30, and greeted with a two-hour fireworks display that Fourth of July. Thousands of people watched from the new Boston Embankment (the early Charles River Esplanade), which took the place of the former tidal flats. Construction of the Museum of Science began on the dam in 1948, and finished in 1951. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation completed a 2-year project to rehabilitate the Craigie Bridge and to completely replace the drawbridge in 2011. The project required the closure of the Boston-bound lanes from November 6, 2010, through mid December 2010, and again from early February 2011 through mid-April 2011, necessitating traffic detours. This was paid for out of borrowed funds as part of the statewide Accelerated Bridge Program. In November 2018, a Boston University graduate student was killed by a dump truck while bicycling on the bridge as both turned right onto Museum Way. The next month,

MassDOT The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Sessio ...

announced that dedicated bicycle signals and protected bicycle lanes would be added in summer 2019, dropping automobile traffic to two lanes in each direction.State to begin work in June to improve bike safety on road near Museum of Science
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Footnotes

References

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

, bridge = Charles River Dam Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream = Longfellow Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream = Lechmere Viaduct , downstream signs = ''MBTA Green Line'' Bascule bridges in the United States Bridges completed in 1810 Bridges completed in 1910 Bridges completed in 2011 Bridges in Boston Bridges over the Charles River Dams in Massachusetts Former toll bridges in Massachusetts Road bridges in Massachusetts Steel bridges in the United States West End, Boston

History

See also

Footnotes

References