The Leverett Circle Connector Bridge is a highway

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

over the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles bac ...

, carrying two lanes each of northbound and southbound traffic. It connects to

Interstate 93 Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...

(I-93) in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area ...

( Northern Expressway) at the northern end (exit 18, formerly 26 from I-93 south) and splits at the southern end, providing direct access to both Storrow Drive and Leverett Circle in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

. Going northbound, there is also a fork which provides access to the City Square Tunnel under Charlestown to proceed on

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, makin ...

(US 1) northbound via the Tobin Bridge. The span was built in conjunction with the more dramatic Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge as part of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, widely known as the

Big Dig The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T Project), commonly known as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93 (I-93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into the 1.5-mile (2. ...

. During construction, the Leverett Circle Connector Bridge was sometimes called "Baby Bridge". The bridge opened for traffic on October 7, 1999, at a cost of $22.27 million (equivalent to $ in ). Also known as the Storrow Drive Connector, it is the largest steel

box girder bridge A box girder bridge, or box section bridge, is a bridge in which the main beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises prestressed concrete, structural steel, or a composite of steel and re ...

in the United States. It was the winner of a July 2001 National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) "prize bridge" award. Its weaving design was determined by the other major structures involved in the Big Dig but unlike other parts of the project, it was finished eight days ahead of schedule.

Major intersections

The entire route is in

, Suffolk County.

Gallery

File:TD Fleet Centre satellite view.png, Leverett Circle as seen behind

North Station North Station is a commuter rail and intercity rail terminal station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by four MBTA Commuter Rail lines – the Fitchburg Line, Haverhill Line, Lowell Line, and Newburyport/Rockport Line – and the Amtra ...

during Big Dig construction. File:TD_Banknorth_Garden_outside.jpg, Part of the rebuilt connector bridge at right.

References

{{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Leverett Circle Connector Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream = Charles River Bridge , upstream signs = ''MBTA Commuter Rail'' , downstream = Haymarket North Extension , downstream signs = ''MBTA Orange Line'' Bridges in Boston West End, Boston Buildings and structures in Somerville, Massachusetts Bridges in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Road bridges in Massachusetts Transportation in Somerville, Massachusetts Bridges over the Charles River Bridges completed in 1999 1999 establishments in Massachusetts Steel bridges in the United States Box girder bridges in the United States

Major intersections

Gallery

See also

References