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The 'Longfellow Bridge', also known to locals as the "Salt and Pepper Bridge" or the "Salt and Pepper Shaker Bridge", carries Route 3 and the MBTA's Red Line across the Charles River to connect Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood with the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. A portion of the elevated Charles/MGH train station also rests upon the southern end of the bridge. The bridge is owned by the Department of Conservation and Recreation.^[1] For some reason, the upstream sidewalks are narrower than the downstream. According to the Boston Herald, the bridge carries roughly 50,000 cars and 100,000 Red Line passengers every day.

Contents

History

Since the 1990s

Neglect

Gallery

References

See also

External links

History

The bridge structure was built on the site of the 1793 West Boston Bridge and was originally known as the Cambridge Bridge, but was renamed for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Willam Jackson served as chief engineer and Edmund M. Wheelwright as architect. Wheelwright was inspired by the 1893 Columbian Exposition and was trying to rival the great bridges of Europe. The bridge opened on August 3, 1906, and consists of 11 steel arch spans on masonry piers. The bridge has a total length of 1,768 feet (539 m) and supports road, subway, and pedestrian traffic.

Since the 1990s

For a time during the 1990s and early 2000s, the bridge's towers bore several colorful paint splatters placed there by unknown vandals. These splatters remained on the bridge for several years, but were eventually cleaned off by the state.
Where the Boston end of the bridge passes over Storrow Drive, there was an old sign hung on the bridge over the roadway that said "Reverse Curve" that was frequently defaced to read "Reverse the Curse"; after the Boston Red Sox' win in the 2004 World Series, this sign was removed during a ceremony presided over by governor Mitt Romney and replaced with modern graphical road signage. It was slated to be sold at auction, with the proceeds going to the Jimmy Fund.
On Tuesday, May 1, 2007, a fire broke out under the bridge. The fire burned through the roof of the bridge and caused the bridge to be shut down to vehicle and train traffic. This fire also severed Internet2 connectivity to Boston, causing problems with the Chicago-New York OC-192 route, according to the Internet2 blog.

Neglect

The Longfellow Bridge, like many bridges in the Commonwealth, is in serious disrepair. "Since 1907, the only major maintenance conducted on the bridge has been a small 1959 rehabilitiation project and lesser repairs done in 2002."^[2] Engineers estimate rehabilitation could cost more than $200 million. Final costs will not be known until workers uncover the bridge and evaluate its pilings. If the maintenance was performed regularly, the total historical cost would have instead been about $81 million.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is attempting to float bonds in part to fund maintenance for the bridge.^[3]

Gallery

References

1. MassHighway, Bridge Rehabilitation, Cambridge Street over the Charles River
2. Westerling, David & Steve Poftak, ''A Legacy of Neglect'', ''Boston Globe'' Op Ed., A11 (Jul 31, 2007).
3. Daily Hampshire Gazette

See also

★ List of crossings of the Charles River

External links

★

★ Restoration of the Longfellow Bridge

★ Longfellow Bridge lane to close