Historic Bridges

Historic bridges are specialty of the firm. Our associated consultants have together inventoried, evaluated and documented hundreds of highway and railroad bridges ranging from 19th century iron trusses and stone arches to mid-20th century concrete rigid-frames and post-tensioned welded girder spans.

HDC Associate Consultant Eric DeLony is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on the history and preservation of bridges.

Statewide surveys in Iowa, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have involved the evaluation of thousands of bridges up to 1970. For a closer look at our work in one state see New Hampshire Historic Bridges Project Sheet.

Featured Projects
Historic Bridges 

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Massachusetts Concrete Arch Bridges This project included field survey, photography and significance assessment of the state's concrete arch bridges built between 1913 and 1959. At right is a 1923 open spandrel, 3-rib arch carrying Bridge Street over the Westfield River in Russell. For more photos, see the Massachusetts Concrete Arch Bridge Slideshow.
Work in Progress New Hampshire  Pratt Truss Bridges Two early 20th c. bridges are being documented to HAER standards for NHDOT. The 1928 Central Street Bridge between Bristol and New Hampton is a 240' span with a polygonal top chord. It replaced a 2-span covered bridge damaged in the extraordinary flood of 1927. For SEA Consultants, Inc. The 1937 Crawford Notch Road Bridge in Bartlett is a 168' span with parallel chords built with  WPA funding on U.S. Route 3. For Edwards and Kelsey.
Route 1&9 Truck, Passaic River Lift Bridge This large 332'-span tower-drive vertical-lift highway bridge was built 1939-1941. It incorporated many innovative and state-of-the-art features developed for lift-bridges during the 1930s, a decade of significant technological advancement of the type. It was designed by the renown lift-bridge engineering firm of Ash, Howard, Needles and Tammen, and Morris Goodkind, Chief Bridge Engineer of the NJ State Highway Dept. For RBA Associates and NJDOT.
General Sullivan Bridge Significance Study The NHDOT commissioned this special study to examine the historic significance of the GSB. Spanning Little Bay at Dover, the 3-span continuous arch truss bridge was designed by Fay, Spofford and Thorndike and erected in 1934. It was the second in a series of four structurally and aesthetically innovative trusses by FS&T that incorporated deck spans flanking a center thru span (preceded by the Champlain Bridge, followed by the Cape Cod Canal bridges). Read the report: General Sullivan Bridge National Significance Study.