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The Ponakin Bridge is a historic Post truss bridge spanning the
Nashua River The Nashua River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 is a tributary of the Merrimack River in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the United States. It ...
in northern
Lancaster, Massachusetts Lancaster is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1653, Lancaster is the oldest town in Worcester County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town population ...
. The bridge was built in 1871, and originally carried the main north–south road (now Ponakin Road), which was bypassed by the construction of
Massachusetts Route 70 Route 70 is a north–south state highway in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Its southern terminus is at Route 9 in Worcester and its northern terminus is at Route 2 in Lancaster. Along the way it intersects Interstate 290 (I-290) in ...
. It is now unsafe and closed even to pedestrians. The bridge, with a design once common but now extremely rare, was 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 ...
in 1979.


Description and history

The Ponakin Bridge is located in a rural setting several miles north of the village center of Lancaster, spanning the Nashua River in a roughly east–west orientation between
Massachusetts Route 70 Route 70 is a north–south state highway in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Its southern terminus is at Route 9 in Worcester and its northern terminus is at Route 2 in Lancaster. Along the way it intersects Interstate 290 (I-290) in ...
and Ponakin Road, a dead-end residential street paralleling the river's west bank. The bridge trusses consist of eight paneled sections with a total span of and a width of . It rests on granite stone abutments formed out of rough-cut stone long. The decking consists of a base of cross timbers which are attached to the trusses, with wood stringers, then transverse cross timbers, and finally three inch deck planking. The truss panels have pinned end diagonals that are under compression, diagonal bars spanning two panels under tension. The bridge was built in 1871 for town by the Watson Manufacturing Company of
Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
over the
Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...
. The bridge deck is now compromised, and the bridge has been closed to all forms of traffic.


See also

*
Atherton Bridge The Atherton Bridge is a historic iron truss bridge in Lancaster, Massachusetts, spanning the South Branch of the Nashua River. It is a rare example of a hybrid pony truss that is similar to the 19th century truss design of Simeon S. Post. It ...
*
List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Massachusetts __NOTOC__ This is a list of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Bridges References External links {{HAER list, structure=bridge *List *List Massachusetts Bridges, HAER Br ...
*
List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester County, Massachusetts National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...


References


External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Bridges in Worcester County, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Lancaster, Massachusetts Historic American Engineering Record in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Worcester County, Massachusetts Truss bridges in the United States Metal bridges in the United States