General Pierce Bridge

General Pierce Bridge
General Pierce Bridge, taken from the Canalside Railtrail Bridge
Carries	vehicular and pedestrian traffic
Crosses	Connecticut River
Locale	Greenfield and Montague, Massachusetts
Maintained by	MassHighway
ID number	G-12-020
Design	steel truss bridge
Total length	229.5 m
Width	7.9 m
Construction end	1947
Daily traffic	19,400
Coordinates	42°34′49″N 72°34′47″W / 42.58028°N 72.57972°W / 42.58028; -72.57972Coordinates: 42°34′49″N 72°34′47″W / 42.58028°N 72.57972°W / 42.58028; -72.57972

The General Pierce Bridge is a steel truss road bridge over the Connecticut River between Greenfield, Massachusetts and Montague, Massachusetts carrying Montague City Road.

General Pierce Bridge, between spans facing northeast.

It is currently being scheduled for major repairs. After the Gill - Montague Bridge upstream is refurbished, the state will perform further work on this structure.^[1][2]

Previous structures

Montague City Bridge with the Trolley Bridge just visible behind it.

Earlier image of the covered bridge and the trolley bridge, with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Bridge (now known as the Canalside Railtrail Bridge) in the background

The current bridge was preceded at that location by two bridges destroyed in the Flood of 1936. Upstream was the wooden double-decked covered bridge known as the Montague City Bridge, and carried rail traffic on top, with other traffic below. It was built in 1866, and was over 860 feet (260 m) long, with 5 spans. Next was the trolley bridge, which was a metal through-truss.^[3]

When the Flood of 1936 came, the trolley bridge was knocked off its piers and sunk into the river, where it remains. The covered rail bridge floated down the river, where it knocked two spans off the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Bridge (now known as the Canalside Rail Trail Bridge), then proceeded down the river to destroy the Sunderland Bridge.^[3]

See also

• List of crossings of the Connecticut River

External links and references

1. ^ Franklin Region Transportation Plan, January 2007, chapter 5
2. ^ Article in the Greenfield Recorder
3. ^ ^{a b} Klekowski, Ed; Wilda, Elizabeth; Klekowski, Libby (2003). The Great Flood of 1936: The Connecticut River Story (DVD). Springfield, Massachusetts: WGBY. Event occurs at 10:35. OCLC 58055715. http://www.wgby.org/localprograms/flood/. Retrieved 16 November 2011.