Longfellow Bridge facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Longfellow Bridge |
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Longfellow Bridge viewed from the Boston end in 2019
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| Coordinates | 42°21′42″N 71°04′31″W / 42.361635°N 71.07541°W |
| Carries |  Route 3, MBTA Red Line |
| Crosses | Charles River |
| Locale | Boston, Massachusetts to Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Maintained by | Massachusetts Department of Transportation |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Steel rib arch bridge |
| Total length | 1,767.5 feet (538.7 m) |
| Width | 105 feet (32 m) |
| Longest span | 188.5 feet (57.5 m) |
| History | |
| Construction begin | July 1900 |
| Opened | August 3, 1906 |
| Rebuilt | 2013–2018 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 28,600 cars and 90,000 mass-transit passengers |
The Longfellow Bridge is a famous bridge in Massachusetts. It connects Boston's Beacon Hill area with Cambridge across the Charles River. This bridge is very busy! It carries cars, bicycles, and people walking. It also carries the MBTA Red Line subway.
The bridge was first called the Cambridge Bridge. Before that, an older bridge in the same spot was called the West Boston Bridge. Many locals call it the "Salt-and-Pepper Bridge". This is because its tall central towers look a bit like salt and pepper shakers. The bridge is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). Every weekday, about 28,600 cars and 90,000 subway passengers use it.
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Bridge Design and Features
The Longfellow Bridge is special because it carries both trains and cars. It is about 105 feet (32 meters) wide. The bridge stretches for about 1,767 feet (539 meters) between its ends. It has eleven strong steel arch spans. These arches are supported by ten stone piers and two large abutments.
The arches are different sizes. The ones near the ends are about 101 feet (31 meters) long. The arches in the middle are longer, about 188 feet (57 meters). The bridge is tall enough for boats to pass underneath. The space under the central arch is about 26 feet (8 meters) high at high tide.
The two biggest piers in the middle of the bridge are very long and wide. They have four decorative stone towers. These towers are carved with the front parts of Viking ships. This design remembers a story about Leif Erikson possibly sailing up the Charles River long ago. The piers also show the official seals of Boston and Cambridge.
From the Longfellow Bridge, you can see amazing views of the Boston skyline. Many people enjoy riding the Red Line subway over the bridge just to see this beautiful view.
History of the Bridge
The very first way to cross the river here was a ferry in the 1630s. Later, in 1793, the West Boston Bridge was built. This was a toll bridge, meaning you had to pay to cross it. Building this bridge helped the area of East Cambridge grow a lot. New streets were made, and land was even reclaimed from swamps.
The West Boston Bridge became free to use in 1858. It was also important for early public transportation. The first horse-drawn streetcar line in Boston used this bridge in 1856. This line connected Bowdoin Square and Harvard Square. Later, in 1889, this streetcar line became electric.
Building the New Cambridge Bridge
In 1898, a special group was formed to build a new bridge. This new bridge would be called the Cambridge Bridge. It needed to be good for regular travel, and also for the new elevated trains and streetcars. The engineers and architects traveled to Europe to study famous bridges there. They wanted to build a beautiful and strong bridge.
At first, rules said the bridge needed a drawbridge (a part that opens for boats). But building a bridge without a drawbridge would be cheaper and look better. So, the rules were changed. Construction on the new bridge started in July 1900. It opened for traffic in August 1906. The official dedication was on July 31, 1907.
Renaming to Longfellow Bridge
In 1927, the Cambridge Bridge was renamed the Longfellow Bridge. This was done to honor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He was a famous poet who wrote about the old West Boston Bridge in his poem "The Bridge" in 1845.
The bridge has stairs on both sides at each end. These stairs used to lead right to the Charles River. On the Cambridge side, they still do. But on the Boston side, a highway called Storrow Drive was built in the 1950s. Now, the stairs on the Boston side lead to small areas of land cut off from the river. To get to the Charles River Esplanade (a park along the river), people now use a different pedestrian bridge nearby.
The new bridge was built with tracks for streetcars. It also had an empty space in the middle. In 1912, the Cambridge–Dorchester line (now the Red Line subway) started using this middle space. This greatly reduced the need for streetcars on the bridge. Eventually, the last streetcar route over the bridge was replaced by a bus in 1925. A subway station, Charles station, opened at the Boston end of the bridge in 1932.
Bridge Repairs and Reconstruction
Over many years, the Longfellow Bridge started to show its age. Between 1907 and 2011, there were only a few small repairs. The bridge needed a lot of work.
In 2008, parts of the bridge were closed because officials were worried it might not be safe. The Red Line subway had to slow down to 10 miles per hour. People were even told not to watch fireworks from the bridge. This showed how much the bridge needed fixing.
Later in 2008, the governor signed a plan to spend $3 billion on bridge repairs across Massachusetts. About $267.5 million was set aside for the Longfellow Bridge. Experts said that if the bridge had been maintained regularly, the repairs would have cost much less.
Major Reconstruction Project
A huge project costing $255 million began in the summer of 2013. The goal was to replace old parts of the bridge and make it look like it did when it was new. This project involved many weekend shutdowns of the Red Line subway. Road traffic from Boston to Cambridge was detoured for three years.
Engineers used special techniques to rebuild the bridge. They even installed a temporary "shoo-fly track" to allow the subway tracks to be rebuilt. The project aimed to make the bridge stronger and safer. It also added wider sidewalks and bike lanes. After the work, there would be two lanes for cars going towards Boston, but only one lane going towards Cambridge.
The Longfellow Bridge is considered a very important historic bridge in Boston. The main goal of the project was to fix its structural problems. It also aimed to update the bridge to modern safety rules. All of this was done while keeping its beautiful and historic look.
The project was supposed to finish in 2016. However, it took longer, partly because some historic restoration work needed older building methods like riveting. The bridge fully reopened on May 31, 2018. The total cost of the rebuilding project was about $306.6 million.
