The Cornwall Bridge (also known as Bridge No. 560) is a two-lane, concrete

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

carrying U.S. Route 7/ Connecticut Route 4 over the

Housatonic River The Housatonic River ( ) is a river, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United S ...

and the

Housatonic Railroad The Housatonic Railroad ( ) is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and ...

in northwestern Connecticut. It was built in 1930 by C.W. Blakeslee and Sons for the

Connecticut Highway Department The Connecticut Department of Transportation (often referred to as CTDOT and occasionally ConnDOT, or CDOT) is responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports and waterways in Connecticut.

and consists of six

open-spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

arches spanning , and is a fairly large example of concrete open-spandrel construction. The bridge was reconstructed in 1994 and 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 2004.

Description and history

The Cornwall Bridge is located in southwestern

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

and southeastern

Sharon Sharon ( he, שָׁרוֹן ''Šārôn'' "plain") is a given name as well as an Israeli surname. In English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name. However, historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In I ...

, near the village known as Cornwall Bridge. It is oriented east-west, principally crossing the south-flowing Housatonic River, but also the tracks of the Housatonic Railroad which parallels the river's east bank, and roads named River Road on each side. The bridge has six spans of open-spandrel concrete construction, the longest at spanning the river. The five smaller spans (two on the west bank, three on the east) are each in length. In addition to the arched portion of the structure, there are three concrete girder approach spans on each side, giving the bridge a total length of . It carries two lanes of traffic, with no sidewalks. The open spandrel design was chosen to minimize the bridge's footprint and use of concrete, which would have been much more extensive and expensive with more typical designs. It is one of six open-spandrel bridges in the state, and is the largest of those. The bridge was built as part of a state program to modernize the infrastructure of the state's principal travel arteries. The village on the Cornwall side is called Cornwall Bridge, having been so named because a bridge of some sort has stood here for many years. The present bridge was built in 1930, and the 19th-century

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

was demoted to carrying only pedestrians. The covered bridge then washed away when the Housatonic flooded in 1936. After the state replaced the bridge, the industrial and commercial center of the Village of Cornwall Bridge slowly moved up the hill away from the river, to the current intersection of

US Route 7 U.S. Route 7 (US 7) is a north–south United States highway in western New England that runs for through the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The highway's southern terminus is at Interstate 95 (I-95) exit 1 ...

and

Connecticut Route 4 Route 4 is an east–west primary state highway connecting rural Litchfield County to the Greater Hartford area of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It runs from the town of Sharon to the town of West Hartford. Route description Route ...

.Cornwall Historical Society, “Cornwall Bridge,” http://www.cornwallhistoricalsociety.org/research-and-collections/common-topics-and-subject-guides/the-eight-cornwalls/cornwall-bridge/ The Cornwall Bridge Railroad Station remains below the new bridge, although it has not received service since 1972.

References

External links

Connecticut Historic Highway Bridges
{{National Register of Historic Places Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Cornwall, Connecticut Sharon, Connecticut Bridges in Litchfield County, Connecticut U.S. Route 7 Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System National Register of Historic Places in Litchfield County, Connecticut Bridges over the Housatonic River Concrete bridges in the United States Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States Bridges completed in 1930 1930 establishments in Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References

External links