Bulkeley Bridge - Misplaced Pages

Bridge in Connecticut and East Hartford, Connecticut

Bulkeley Bridge
Bulkeley Bridge in March 2013
Coordinates	41°46′08″N 72°39′54″W / 41.769°N 72.665°W / 41.769; -72.665
Carries	8 lanes of I-84 / US 6 / US 44, bikes/pedestrians
Crosses	Connecticut River
Locale	Hartford, Connecticut and East Hartford, Connecticut
Official name	Morgan G. Bulkeley Bridge
Maintained by	ConnDOT
Characteristics
Design	stone arch bridge
Total length	1,075 feet (328 m)
Width	110 feet (34 m)
Longest span	119 feet (36 m)
Clearance below	39 feet (12 m)
History
Construction start	1903
Construction end	1908
Opened	1908
Statistics
Toll

Morgan G. Bulkeley Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Location	I-84 / US 6 / US 44, Hartford and East Hartford
Coordinates	41°46′10″N 72°39′55″W / 41.76944°N 72.66528°W / 41.76944; -72.66528
Built	1908
Architect	Graves, Edwin D., Wheelwright, Edmund M.
Architectural style	Classical Revival
NRHP reference No.	93001347
Added to NRHP	December 10, 1993

Location

The Bulkeley Bridge (also known as Hartford Bridge, Bridge No. 980A) is the oldest of three highway bridges over the Connecticut River between Hartford, Connecticut and East Hartford, Connecticut. A stone arch bridge composed of nine spans, the bridge carries Interstate 84, U.S. Route 6, and U.S. Route 44 across the river. As of 2005, the bridge carried an average daily traffic of 142,500 cars. The arches are mounted on stone piers, and vary in length from 68 feet (21 m) to 119 feet (36 m); the total length of the bridge is 1,192 feet (363 m).

Completed in 1908, the Bulkeley Bridge is the oldest bridge in the Hartford area and one of the oldest bridges still in use in the Interstate Highway System. It is also the largest and one of the last major stone arch bridges to be built in New England.

Because of its historical, architectural and engineering significance, the Bulkeley Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

History

Postcard view of the 1818–1895 covered bridge

The first substantial bridge across the Connecticut River at Hartford was the Hartford Toll Bridge, a two-lane covered bridge that opened in 1818. The 974 feet (297 m) span carried horse traffic, and in 1890 trolley lines were added, connecting Hartford to East Hartford and Glastonbury. On May 17, 1895, the bridge was destroyed in a fire. The flames started near the East Hartford end of the bridge, and within ten minutes had swept the entire tinder-dry structure. There had been much agitation for a new bridge, and the Hartford Courant reported a crowd of 20,000 spectators lined the banks of both sides of the river to watch the bridge burn.

Backed by civic groups who saw an opportunity to create a monumental structure, construction on a permanent "Hartford Bridge" began in 1903. Hartford's civic and business leaders were determined that the new bridge would be "an ornament to the city which should endure forever." Designed by Edward Dwight Graves, the neo-classical stone arch bridge design that was selected in 1903 stood in contrast to the various truss bridges and suspension bridges in vogue at the time.

To create a proper setting, the bridge commission tore down rows of tenements and constructed wide, landscaped approach boulevards on both sides of the river. The bridge opened on Oct. 6, 1908. At a total price tag of $3 million it was the most expensive bridge in the state, costing half-million dollars more than the Connecticut State Capitol building itself. Constructed from over 100,000 cubic yards (76,000 m) of grey and pink granite, each ten-ton block was cut to remarkable tolerances of within a 3/8ths of an inch. When completed, the bridge connected two city streets: Morgan Street in Hartford and Hartford Avenue (now Connecticut Boulevard) in East Hartford.

After his death in 1922, the span was renamed for Senator Morgan Bulkeley. The former four-term mayor of Hartford had been instrumental in the bridge's planning process. Bulkeley also served as Governor of Connecticut and United States Senator and was serving as the third president of Hartford-based Aetna Life Insurance Company. He was also elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame as the first president of the National League.

As horse and buggy gave way to the automobile, the Bulkeley Bridge became the most important vehicular span in the state. Until 1942, the Bulkeley was the only motor vehicle bridge across the Connecticut River between Warehouse Point in East Windsor and Middletown. It handled a lot of cross-state traffic: US 5, US 6, and US 44, as well as earlier iterations of Connecticut Route 17 and Connecticut Route 101. Following a pair of horrific floods in 1936 and 1938 a series of levees were constructed along the banks of the Connecticut River, beginning Hartford's retreat from the waterfront and partially obscuring views of the bridge.

Congestion on city streets and the Bulkeley Bridge led the state to build an expressway bypass route and a new crossing just to the south, the Charter Oak Bridge, which opened in 1942. Founders Bridge, third Connecticut River crossing within the City of Hartford was inaugurated in 1958.

The traffic relief on the Bulkeley was short-lived, however, for much more significant changes were in the wings. By the late 1950s work had already begun on what is now I-84, Connecticut's main east-west corridor. Morgan Street and the carefully laid out approaches to the bridge were moved or covered first by the new interstate and later by its intersection with Interstate 91. According to urban legend, Beatrice Fox Auerbach single-handedly decided that the two Interstates would meet at the western side of the Bulkeley Bridge without a direct connection. This would force traffic to use local streets and conveniently have pass by the G. Fox & Co. department store (which was owned by Auerbach) in Downtown Hartford. I-84 would use the bridge to cross into East Hartford.

In 1964, the bridge was widened to eight lanes. However, two lanes in each direction are auxiliary, serving exits and entrances, leaving only two lanes in each direction for through traffic on I-84.

Until Riverfront Recapture efforts of the 1980s and 1990s, the bridge remained largely hidden from view behind the flood control dikes and highways.

References

CT DOT
"Connecticut's historic highway bridges". Archived from the original on December 15, 2006. Retrieved March 2, 2006.
2005 Traffic Volumes State Maintained Highway Network (Traffic Log); State of Connecticut Department of Transportation p89.
^ "NRHP nomination for Bulkeley Bridge". National Park Service. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
Thornton, Steve. "The Sand Hogs Set the Foundation for the Bulkeley Bridge". Connecticut History. Connecticut Humanities. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
Allen, Richard Sanders (2004). Covered Bridges of the Northeast. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. pp. 74–75. ISBN 0486436624.
Delany, Edmund Thomas (1983). The Connecticut River: New England's Historic Waterway. The Globe Pequot Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-87106-980-1.
Norton, Frederick Calvin (1905). The Governors of Connecticut. Connecticut Magazine Co. LCC F93.N88. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
Clouette, Bruce. "Bulkeley Bridge, Bridge No. 980A". Connecticut's Historic Highway Bridges. Archived from the original on December 15, 2006. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
Rothman, Sam (July 13, 2012). "The Bulkeley Bridge: An Architectural Treasure". ONE New England. Retrieved June 7, 2015.

External links

Crossings of the Connecticut River

Upstream
Hartford–East Hartford railroad bridge

Morgan G. Bulkeley Bridge

Downstream
Founders Bridge

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Connecticut River watershed

Tributaries

Connecticut	Blackledge River Coginchaug River Connecticut River Duck River Eightmile River Falls River Farmington River Hockanum River Hubbard River Jeremy River Lieutenant River Mattabesset River Nepaug River Pameacha Creek Park River Pequabuck River Salmon River Scantic River
Massachusetts	Burnshirt River Chapel Brook Chicopee River Connecticut River Cranberry River Deerfield River East Brookfield River Farmington River Fall River Five Mile River Green River Hubbard River Manhan River Mill River (Northampton) Mill River (Springfield) Millers River Mirey Brook North Branch Millers River North Branch Westfield River North River Otter River Quaboag River Scantic River Seven Mile River Tarbell Brook Ware River Westfield River
New Hampshire	Ammonoosuc River Ashuelot River Blow-me-down Brook The Branch Cold River Connecticut River East Branch Mohawk River Gale River Great Brook Halls Stream Ham Branch Indian River Indian Stream Israel River Johns River Knox River Little River Little Sugar River Mascoma River Millers River Mink Brook Mirey Brook Mohawk River Nash Stream North Branch Gale River North Branch Millers River North Branch Sugar River North Branch Upper Ammonoosuc River Oliverian Brook Otter Brook Partridge Brook Perry Stream Phillips Brook Simms Stream South Branch Ashuelot River South Branch Gale River South Branch Israel River South Branch Sugar River Stocker Brook Sugar River Tarbell Brook Upper Ammonoosuc River West Branch Mohawk River West Branch Upper Ammonoosuc River Wild Ammonoosuc River Zealand River
Vermont	Black River Connecticut River Deerfield River Fall River Green River Halls Stream Leach Creek Moose River Nulhegan River Ompompanoosuc River Ottauquechee River Passumpsic River Rock River Saxtons River Utley Brook Waits River Wells River West River Whetstone Brook White River Williams River Winhall River

Lakes

Connecticut	Barkhamsted Reservoir Lake Beseck Lake Hayward Lake Pocotopaug
Massachusetts	Brooks Pond Browning Pond Lake Monomonac Quabbin Reservoir Lake Wyola
New Hampshire	Ashuelot Pond Back Lake Canaan Street Lake Cedar Pond Christine Lake Comerford Reservoir Connecticut Lakes Crystal Lake Dublin Pond Eastman Pond Echo Lake Lake Francis (Murphy Dam) Goose Pond Grafton Pond Granite Lake Lakes of the Clouds Little Sunapee Lake Mascoma Lake McIndoes Reservoir Lake Monomonac Moore Reservoir Pearly Lake Silver Lake Spofford Lake Lake Sunapee Surry Mountain Lake Lake Tarleton
Vermont	Ball Mountain Lake Comerford Reservoir Harriman Reservoir Harvey's Lake McIndoes Reservoir Moore Reservoir North Hartland Lake Lake Rescue Townshend Lake

Towns

Connecticut	Chester Cromwell Deep River East Haddam East Hampton East Hartford East Windsor Enfield Essex Glastonbury Haddam Hartford Higganum Lyme Middletown Moodus Old Lyme Old Saybrook Portland Rocky Hill South Windsor Suffield Thompsonville Wethersfield Windsor Windsor Locks
Massachusetts	Agawam Chicopee Deerfield Easthampton Gill Greenfield Hadley Hatfield Holyoke Longmeadow Millers Falls Montague Northampton Northfield South Hadley Springfield Sunderland Turners Falls West Springfield Whately
New Hampshire	Bath Charlestown Chesterfield Claremont Clarksville Colebrook Columbia Cornish Dalton Groveton Hanover Haverhill Hinsdale Lancaster Lebanon Littleton Lyme Monroe Northumberland Orford Piermont Pittsburg Plainfield Stewartstown Stratford Walpole West Lebanon Westmoreland Woodsville
Quebec	East Hereford
Vermont	Ascutney Barnet Beecher Falls Bellows Falls Bloomfield Bradford Brattleboro Brunswick Canaan Concord Dummerston Fairlee Gilman Guildhall Hartford Hartland Lemington Lunenburg Maidstone Newbury Norwich Putney Rockingham Ryegate Springfield Thetford Vernon Waterford Weathersfield Wells River Westminster White River Junction Wilder Windsor

Crossings

Categories:

History

See also

References

External links