Point Street Bridge

Point Street Bridge
Point Street Bridge, spanning the Providence River
Coordinates
Carries	Two lanes of Point Street
Crosses	Providence River
Owner	City of Providence
Maintained by	City of Providence
ID number	9800
Characteristics
Design	Swing bridge
Material	Steel
Total length	160.9 metres (528 ft)
Width	11.9 metres (39 ft)
History
Constructed by	Boston Bridge Works Inc.
Construction end	1927 (reconstructed 1999)
Opened	1927 (1927)
Replaces	Swing bridge built in 1872
Statistics
Toll	None
References
National Bridge Inventory

The Point Street Bridge is a movable bridge that crosses the Providence River in Providence, Rhode Island, carrying Point Street from the Jewelry District to Wickenden Street at the base of College Hill.

History

The first bridge at this site was built in 1872. It consisted of a swing span 249 feet (76 m) in length with two 145 feet (44 m) shore spans. In 1907, each of the approach spans was divided into three plate-girder spans carried on new granite piers and abutments. However, funding was insufficient to replace the swing span, so its length was merely increased to 284 feet (87 m).

The current bridge is the third at this site. It is also a swing bridge and was built by the Boston Bridge Works Inc. in 1927. The bridge is no longer moveable but fixed in place to allow Point Street traffic to cross. It was last swung open in 1959. The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier, downstream of the Point Street Bridge and completed in 1966, rendered the swing feature of little value, because the Barrier blocks large vessels from traveling upstream before the bridge would.

External links

A previous Point Street Bridge from the Providence Public Library's Photostream

Article containing a photograph of the previous Point Street Bridge from the Providence Journal