Poughkeepsie Bridge
Coordinates: 41 ° 42 ′ 37 " N , 73 ° 56 ′ 41" W.
| Walkway over the Hudson (Poughkeepsie Bridge) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Official name | Walkway over the Hudson (Poughkeepsie Bridge) | |
| use | former railway bridge, now a pedestrian crossing | |
| Crossing of | Hudson River | |
| construction | Cantilever bridge | |
| overall length | 2082 m | |
| Longest span | 160 m | |
| height | 65 m | |
| completion | December 29, 1888 | |
| opening | January 1, 1889 | |
| closure | 1974 | |
| location | ||
|
||
The Poughkeepsie Bridge (also known as the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge or Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge ) is a cantilever, single-lane, steel- built railroad bridge that spans the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie on the east bank and Highland to the west. It was completed in 1889 and was in operation until 1974. In 2009 it was reopened as a pedestrian bridge.
history
Emergence
Planning for a bridge over the Hudson began before the Civil War . To replace the many ferries, many plans have been drawn up over the years for a permanent crossing point south of Albany . One of the suggestions was for a route from Anthony's Nose to Fort Clinton, roughly where Bear Mountain Bridge is today. That plan was never carried out, although the Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge Company received the concession in 1868.
In June 1871 the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company was hired to build the bridge and John Edgar Thomson of the Pennsylvania Railroad was persuaded to support the project. The construction company should be the American Bridge Company . But the panic of 1873 intervened and the plan was abandoned.
In 1886, the Manhattan Bridge Building Company was formed to fund construction. Among the prominent donors were Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie . The Union Bridge Company from Athens, Pennsylvania , which had built the self-supporting Niagara Bridge, was contracted to build the structure of the Poughkeepsie Bridge. The bridge was designed by Charles Macdonald and AB Paine, while engineers John F. O'Rourke and PP Dickinson collaborated. The first train crossed the bridge on December 29, 1888, and it was officially opened on January 1, 1889.
The bridge was rated a masterpiece of engineering of its time and has six main arches. The total length is 2062.58 meters and is 64.62 meters above the water. It is part of the direct rail route between the New England states and the Midwest.
Consist
The bridge remained the main crossing over the Hudson south of Albany until the Bear Mountain Bridge was built in 1924 and was supposed to relieve New York traffic. The bridge originally belonged to the Central New England Railway (CNE) and then went over to the Penn Central (PC) via the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NH) .
The bridge was reinforced for the first time in 1906–1907, for which purpose an additional third truss was built into the main bridge over the entire length of the tannery girder in the middle . In 1917, Modjeski & Angier reinforced the steel structure. Only one track was laid in the center of the main bridge for use by the increasingly powerful and therefore heavier steam locomotives ; the access roads, which were also reinforced, remained double-tracked.
Decline
Declining freight traffic in the northeastern United States and the general railroad crisis made the bridge less and less necessary. In addition, various mergers between the railway companies made alternative routes available. After a fire on the bridge on May 8, 1974, it was closed and never reopened. The abandonment of this connection to the New England states was the cause of the cessation of operations of the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway and Lehigh and New England Railroad .
Rebirth
In 1998, the nonprofit Walkway Over the Hudson bought the bridge and converted it into a pedestrian crossing for $ 10 to 15 million. The organization receives support from local residents, the city and the state, a total of about 1,000,000 US dollars came together. It also canceled $ 550,000 in debt that remained from the previous owners. The pedestrian crossing was opened on October 3, 2009. In the same year it was added to the List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks by the American Society of Civil Engineers .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Replacing Viaduct Girders in the Reconstruction of the Poughkeepsie Bridge. In: Engineering Record, Building Record and Sanitary Engineer. Vol. 54, No. 7, 1906, p. 178 f.
- ^ Poughkeepsie Bridge Again Being Reinforced - New Floor System. In: Engineering Record, Building Record and Sanitary Engineer. Vol. 75, No. 7, 1917, p. 253.