River Street Bridge (Charles River)

The River Street Bridge is a bridge on the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, connecting River Street in Cambridge to Cambridge Street in Allston near the southern end of the Harvard University campus. It was built in 1925 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Metropolitan District Commission.

River Street Bridge
The River Street Bridge in 2023
Coordinates42.36123°N 71.11670°W / 42.36123; -71.11670
Carrieseast-bound traffic on River Street to Cambridge Street
CrossesCharles River
LocaleCambridge, Massachusetts to Allston, Boston, Massachusetts
Maintained byMassachusetts Department of Transportation
Characteristics
Designarch bridge
No. of spans3 arches, 330 feet
History
Opened1925
Location

The bridge carries one-way traffic going east, into Cambridge. Westbound traffic must take the nearby Western Avenue Bridge.

History
The old Cambridge Street Bridge in 1910. This bridge was demolished to make way for the current bridge.

The original bridge at the site, a wooden drawbridge, was built in 1810.[1][2] The bridge was built in response to the 1793 construction of the West Boston Bridge (at the site of the current Longfellow Bridge), because the two bridges together greatly shortened the route from Boston to Cambridge, which previously had to take a highway around the Back Bay through Roxbury.[3]

The current reinforced-concrete bridge was constructed in 1925[4] with three arches that span 330 feet. It was designed by Robert P. Bellows in a style resembling the Pont Neuf in Paris.[1]

References
  1. "River Street Bridge permanent illumination set for September". Allston/Brighton TAB. September 3, 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  2. "Important Allston Brighton Dates". Brighton Allston Historical Society. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  3. "Harvard Avenue History". Brighton Allston Historical Society. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  4. "Accelerated bridge program: Western Avenue Bridge/River Street Bridge". Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 19, 2011.


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