Chamberlain Bridge

Chamberlain Bridge
Chamberlain Bridge, Bridgetown
Coordinates	13°05′46″N 59°36′51″W / 13.0961°N 59.6141°W / 13.0961; -59.6141Coordinates: 13°05′46″N 59°36′51″W / 13.0961°N 59.6141°W / 13.0961; -59.6141
Carries	pedestrians, bicycles
Crosses	Constitution River Careenage River
Locale	Barbados
Official name	The Chamberlain Bridge The Swing Bridge.
Other name(s)	Originally named as the Indian Bridge
Maintained by	Government of Barbados
Characteristics
Design	Former: Swing bridge Current: Single-leaf bascule-type drawbridge
Total length	11.72 metres (38.5 ft)
Width	8.86 metres (29.1 ft)
Longest span	Single span of 11.7 metres (38 ft)
History
Opened	Originally built in 1872 and rebuilt in 2005–2006
Statistics
Toll	N/A

The Chamberlain Bridge is a bridge in Bridgetown, the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. In 1872, it was a swing bridge across the marine inlet channel of the inner basin of the Careenage (Constitution River) at Carlisle Bay. The out moded steel structure was dismantled and rebuilt in 2005–2006 as a lifting bridge with the state-of the-art modern technology of an all-composite single-leafbascule design. This design is a counterweighted bridge span that pivots upward, permitting pleasure craft to pass through an inlet channel. The bridge was built using fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP), which is lighter, long lasting and non-corrosive.

There are two bridges in use in Bridgetown. The Charles Duncan O'Neal Bridge is large and modern in design, commencing from the street east of National Heroes Square, while Chamberlain Bridge is the more "decorative humpbacked bridge" built to replace the original swing bridge after the Great Hurricane with funds generated through the efforts of the then British Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914).

The swing bridge replaced an old wooden bridge named “Indian Bridge,” which ushered development through the movement of small boats into the inner basin of the Careenage River. The bridge was later renamed after Joseph Chamberlain, who, as the British Colonial Secretary in the 1890s, was instrumental in shielding the West Indian sugar industry against stiff competition from Europe. He is also credited with allocation of large funds as grants and loans to subsist the economy of Barbados.

The town was officially known as the "town of St. Michael", but was later renamed as Bridgetown after the bridge. Indeed, the town was known as Indian Bridgetown or Indian Town for some time after this bridge.