The Blackstone Viaduct, or the New York & New England Railroad Viaduct is a historic

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

Blackstone, Massachusetts Blackstone is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,208 at the 2020 census. It is a part of the Providence metropolitan area. History This region was first inhabited by the Nipmuc. Blackstone was settl ...

. The viaduct was built in 1872 by the

Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad The New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE) was a railroad connecting southern New York State with Hartford, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston, Massachusetts. It operated under that name from 1873 to 1893. Prior to 1873 it was ...

and the American Bridge Company. The viaduct is long structure, consisting of masonry arches and earthen embankments in the Massachusetts portion of the village of

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. It runs from the

Blackstone River The Blackstone River is a river in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It flows approximately 48 mi (80 km) and drains a watershed of approximately 540 sq. mi (1,400 km2). Its long history of industrial use has left ...

in the east to a still-watered section of the defunct

Blackstone Canal The Blackstone Canal was a waterway linking Worcester, Massachusetts, to Providence, Rhode Island (and Narragansett Bay) through the Blackstone Valley via a series of locks and canals during the early 19th century. History The initiative for th ...

to the west. The most prominent portion of the structure is an 800-foot earthen embankment running west from the river that is high, and then a multiple-arch masonry bridge constructed out of granite which was sheathed in concrete in 1918. The structure was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2002. The viaduct was built as part of a project by the Boston, Hartford and Erie (BH&E) to build a complete run between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. The first leg of this route, between Blackstone and Boston, was opened in 1849, and was purchased by the BH&E in 1867. That company completed the connection between Blackstone and

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

in 1873, part of which included construction of this viaduct, replacing an older wooden trestle. By the early 20th century, some of the viaduct's arches were in deteriorating condition, and were reinforced with concrete in 1918. The bridge over Canal Street was replaced in 1917. The viaduct is one of the largest of the state's 19th-century masonry bridge structures, second in size only to the

Canton Viaduct Canton Viaduct is a blind arcade cavity wall railroad viaduct in Canton, Massachusetts, built in 1834–35 for the Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P). At its completion, it was the longest () and tallest () railroad viaduct in the world; toda ...

. In the late 1960s, floodwaters washed away an abutment of the adjoining trestle to the east, ending service over the viaduct. The first phase of a restoration project intended to convert the viaduct into a recreational facility including a bike path began in 2019. The bike path will travel over the viaduct and connect two disjointed sections of the

Blackstone River Greenway The Blackstone River Greenway in October 2006, approximately one mile south of the Martin Street Bridge, Lincoln, Rhode Island The Blackstone River Greenway (formerly Bikeway) is a partially completed paved rail trail defining the course of ...

, one 3.7-mile segment in Massachusetts terminating in the town of Blackstone, and a 0.6-mile stretch in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. As of 2021, the Greenway comprised a total of 17 miles of off-road bike path, along a planned 48-mile route between

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

and

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts New York and New England Railroad Buildings and structures in Blackstone, Massachusetts Railroad bridges in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Worcester County, Massachusetts Viaducts in the United States

See also

References