Arch Bridge (Bellows Falls)
| Arch Bridge | |
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1905 arch bridge in Bellows Falls, Vermont over the Connecticut River
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| Coordinates | 43°08′17″N 72°26′54″W / 43.1380°N 72.4484°WCoordinates: 43°08′17″N 72°26′54″W / 43.1380°N 72.4484°W |
| Carries | Vehicles, pedestrians |
| Crosses | Connecticut River |
| Locale | Bellows Falls, Vermont to North Walpole, New Hampshire |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | three-hinged through arch bridge plus a bowstring arch truss (1st) 4-span girder bridge (2nd) |
| Material | steel (both) |
| Total length | 644 feet 8 inches (196.49 m) 540 feet (160 m) (main span over river) 104 feet 8 inches (31.90 m) (over rail track) (1st) |
| Width | 32 feet (9.8 m) (1st) |
| Height | 70 feet (21 m) above the roadway (1st) |
| Longest span | 540 feet (160 m) (1st) |
| Number of spans | 2 (1st) 4 (2nd) |
| Piers in water | 0 (1st) 3 (2nd) |
| History | |
| Designer | Joseph R. Worcester |
| Constructed by | Lewis F. Shoemaker & Co. (1st) |
| Construction begin | 1904 (1st) |
| Construction end | 1905 (1st) 1984 (2nd) |
| Closed | 1971 (1st) |
 Arch Bridge
Location in New Hampshire
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The Bellows Falls Arch Bridge was a three-hinged steel through arch bridge over the Connecticut River between Bellows Falls, Vermont and North Walpole, New Hampshire. It was structurally significant as the longest arch bridge in the United States when it was completed in 1905.
The bridge was built to circumvent an existing toll bridge and prevent people from using the Boston and Maine Railroad bridge, a practice the railroad preferred to discourage.
Due to industrial and transportation expansion, residential needs in the Bellows Falls and Walpole area expanded in the late 1800s. The only means of crossing the river was provided by the Tucker Toll Bridge and the Sullivan Railroad Bridge.
The Tucker Toll Bridge was a Town lattice truss covered bridge completed in 1840, which was acquired by the towns in 1904 and free thereafter. The Sullivan Railroad Bridge was originally built by the Sullivan Railroad, built in 1882 as a replacement for a 1852 span.
Residents didn't like the toll, and the Boston and Maine Railroad objected to pedestrians on its bridge, so following the town meetings in March 1904, the two communities formed a joint committee to buy out the toll bridge and replace it with a new bridge, with five members from each town. Walpole budgeted US$30,000 (US$800,000 with inflation), and Rockingham, Vermont, which includes Bellows Falls, offered US$15,000 (US$400,000 with inflation). The two towns established an agreement whereby maintenance costs would be shouldered two-thirds by Walpole and one-third by Rockingham.
Design restrictions included the objection by the Bellows Falls Canal Company to any abutments obstructing the river near their canal, as well as the river bed conditions in the area, which are roughly 25 feet (7.6 m) deep, with no firm location for a pier. This situation was thought to necessitate a single span structure.
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