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Charles River Bridge (Commuter Rail)

Bascule bridges in the United StatesBridges in Middlesex County, MassachusettsBridges over the Charles RiverBuildings and structures in Cambridge, MassachusettsHistoric American Engineering Record in Massachusetts
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Charles River Bridge from side with train 2013
Charles River Bridge from side with train 2013

The Charles River Bridge is a pair of railroad single-leaf, through-truss, rolling bascule bridges across the Charles River that connects North Station in Boston, Massachusetts to MBTA Commuter Rail lines in northern Massachusetts, United States.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Charles River Bridge (Commuter Rail) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Charles River Bridge (Commuter Rail)
Community Path, Cambridge West End

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Wikipedia: Charles River Bridge (Commuter Rail)Continue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 42.36898 ° E -71.06529 °
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Charles River Bridge

Community Path
02214 Cambridge, West End
Massachusetts, United States
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Charles River Bridge from side with train 2013
Charles River Bridge from side with train 2013
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Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge
Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge

The Leonard P. Zakim () Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (also known as the "Lenny" or “The Zakim”) is a cable-stayed bridge completed in 2003 across the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a replacement for the Charlestown High Bridge, an older truss bridge constructed in the 1950s. Of ten lanes, using the harp-style system of nearly-parallel cable layout, coupled with the use of "cradles" through each pylon for the cables, the main portion of the Zakim Bridge carries four lanes each way (northbound and southbound) of the Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 concurrency between the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. Tunnel and the elevated highway to the north. Two additional lanes are cantilevered outside the cables, which carry northbound traffic from the Sumner Tunnel and North End on-ramp. These lanes merge with the main highway north of the bridge. I-93 heads toward New Hampshire as the "Northern Expressway", and US 1 splits from the Interstate and travels northeast toward Massachusetts' North Shore communities, crossing the Mystic River via the Tobin Bridge. The bridge and connecting tunnel were built as part of the Big Dig, the largest highway construction project in the United States. The northbound lanes were finished in March 2003, and the southbound lanes in December. The bridge's unique styling quickly became an icon for Boston, often featured in the backdrop of national news channels, to establish location, and included on tourist souvenirs. The bridge is commonly referred to as the "Zakim Bridge" or "Bunker Hill Bridge" by residents of nearby Charlestown. Notwithstanding, Boston sports fans also refer to the bridge as the "Bill Buckner Bridge" after Red Sox fielder Willam Buckner, since like Buckner's famous mishap, traffic goes between the legs of the bridge. The nickname takes on significance as Boston sports fans came to fondly embrace Buckner after many years.The Leverett Circle Connector Bridge was constructed in conjunction with the Zakim Bridge, allowing some traffic to bypass it.

Charlestown High Bridge
Charlestown High Bridge

The Charlestown High Bridge (referred to as the John F. Fitzgerald Bridge on old AAA Tourbook maps) spanned the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts and was part of I-93/US 1 at the north end of the Central Artery. This double-decked truss bridge, built in 1954, was to originally carry I-95 through Boston from southwest to northeast in tandem with the Tobin Bridge, built in 1950. The I-95 project and several other highway projects in and around Boston, including both the highly controversial Inner Belt (I-695) and the Southwest Corridor, completing the right-of-way intended to bring I-95 into Boston from Providence, Rhode Island, were cancelled due to heavy public opposition in the early 1970s. I-93 was allowed to be completed from the Yankee Division Highway (Route 128) to the foot of the Charlestown High Bridge in 1969, and the I-93 designation was extended onto the bridge and the Central Artery in the early 1970s. Originally intended to carry 75,000 vehicles per day in the 1950s, the Charlestown High Bridge carried upwards of 200,000 vehicles per day in the 1990s. For years, the bridge was a major traffic bottleneck that affected southbound commuters from Boston's North Shore and southern New Hampshire for miles. Travelling northbound, due to a poorly planned lane drop to accommodate incoming vehicles from Storrow Drive, traffic backups leading to the High Bridge threatened to cause hours of daily gridlock in downtown Boston. These problems were addressed in the planning and construction of the $14.6 billion Big Dig project. The cable-stayed Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, which opened fully to traffic in December 2003, replaced the Charlestown High Bridge, which was demolished in 2004.