Mount Hope Bridge, Bristol-Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Mount Hope Bridge, Bristol, RI

About a year and a half back, I capped off a post about a trip to the Braga Bridge in Fall River with a tease about a sighting of a suspension bridge far in the distance -- the Mount Hope Bridge. And that was the last I posted for months.

I wasn't thrilled by any of the pictures I took that day, really, and considered it kind of a wasted trip. A viaduct hunt had not gone well. The Braga Bridge was lit all wrong. Another bridge I wanted to photograph, I could only see when I was driving over it. And they NEVER let you get out of your car on those things. Got home, saw these pictures, and they just didn't do the bridge any justice at all. Because this is a gorgeous bridge.

It's also the only bridge that will get you onto Aquidneck Island (and down to Newport) without a toll. You might wonder if it's worth the inconvenience of coming into the area from the north to use this bridge just to avoid a few bucks in tolls, but my father would go ten miles out of his way to avoid a four bit toll, so... keep that in mind.

Driving over the Mount Hope Bridge

I wasn't holding my phone to take these pictures as I drove. I have a dash mount for the phone. Regret not bringing it for the Bourne Bridge last weekend, but anyway.

The Mount Hope Bridge was completed in 1929, just days before the stock market crash and the Great Depression. It's over a mile long and 135 feet high in the middle. There's several parks in the area, and if you're into sailing -- you're just not going to find a prettier group of bridges to sail under than the three that cross the Narragansett Bay.

This was a warm, September day -- after the America's Cup races, I think. I missed those because of the crowds. I did get a really good look at the underside of the bridge from one of these parks, one that seemed claimed by locals.

Underside of Mount Hope Bridge

I've seen this kind of cladding beneath bridges many times -- in the Sagamore Bridge post, you can see sheeting covering the bottom of the bridge in both directions. I'm not sure why they put it there. In this case, it might be to protect the people working on the bridge. Dunno.

The Mount Hope bridge was the longest suspension bridge in New England until the nearby Clairborne-Pell Bridge took the crown some years later.

The longest covered bridge in New England (and, until 2008, in the entire country) is going to be the topic of the next post, maybe. In a year and a half :)

Maybe!

Providence River Bridge -- at night!

Providence River Bridge

I'm back!

My car tires were about to dissolve into the road unless I got them replaced, so until I could save up enough money for a new set, I haven't been going much of anywhere for the last month or so. But a dear friend was flying from Texas to Rhode Island for a conference, and I wasn't going to get to Providence on a bicycle.

After dinner, I was able to coerce him to come with me bridge hunting. I've taken pictures of the Providence River Bridge before, but... never at night.

Lit up, the bridge sparkles like a jewel on Providence's waterfront. It's so bright that local astronomers insisted it be turned off at 11PM so that the stars could be seen.

The Providence River Bridge, the widest network lattice arch bridge in the world, was built at a warehouse about fifteen miles down Narragansett Bay and transported up-river to its current spot. This move was the subject of the History Channel documentary, "Mega Movers: Really Big Bridges". Since I last wrote of this bridge in July, I've had a chance to watch this documentary. It's pretty incredible.

To move the bridge, they first had to construct four giant winches to lift the bridge onto specially constructed trucks with over a hundred wheels between them, that, incredibly slowly, inched the bridge onto two barges that were connected by steel bracing. These barges were then pushed by tugboats up the bay to Providence. Any misalignment would send the bridge into the bay.

Total professionals they were; the bridge made it without incident.

Ashton Viaduct, Cumberland-Lincoln, RI

The Ashton Viaduct crossing the Blackstone River

Usually a bridge like this has a lot of history behind it, but I can't even get a definite idea of its name. Some places call it the Ashton Bridge, some the Ashton Viaduct. I imagine it was associated with the nearby (like, if I turn to my right 90 degrees, it's right there) Ashton Village, which was once a thriving mill, so it must be at least a hundred years old, but... no information on how old it is.

I was biking on the Blackstone Valley Bikeway which stretches from Worcester, Massachusetts through to Cumberland, Rhode Island. I was just wanting to see how far I could get, maybe to where I grew up near Uxbridge, Mass., before we moved to New Hampshire. The Blackstone Valley was home.

Yeah, I knew the viaduct would be along the way, but still. I didn't come just for the bridge. Honestly.

The Ashton Mill

Told ya the mill was close.

Viaduct & bike bridge

The Ashton Viaduct is a five span open spandrel arch bridge crossing the Blackstone River, a river once called the most polluted river in the country with respect to toxic sediments, being used as it was as the industrial toilet for mills and factories from Worcester to Woonsocket. It is today still filled with pollutants. In that it shares a fate with the Housatonic River here in Connecticut -- enjoy at your own risk.

Neither river is likely to ever fully recover.

Not the Albion Bridge

Further along the bikeway, I found a pony truss bridge crossing the river. It looked in great condition, better than I'd ever seen one from the age of iron bridges. It didn't look to be one of the Berlin Iron Bridge Company's bridges -- most of theirs are lenticular.

Boston Bridge Works Builders

These bridges were built by the Boston Bridge Works... at least originally.

Turns out that Rhode Island  replaced the bridge, then bolted on parts of the old bridge so it would keep some of its old character. According to the contractor, Gordon R. Archibald Inc Civil Engineering,

To maintain the historic value of this river crossing, Gordon R. Archibald, Inc. developed the innovative concept of 'aesthetic rehabilitation.' Under this concept, the trusses were refurbished and placed astride a new, two-dimensional steel grid superstructure. The steel grid carries all of the new superstructure and vehicular loadings, leaving the trusses to carry only the weight of and loadings on the sidewalks. In this way, the reconstructed bridge can carry contemporary traffic loadings, while its 19th-century visual quality is preserved for future generations.

So I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess it's good that they didn't just replace it with a slab of steel and concrete. They replaced it with a slab of steel and concrete and then put it in a dress.

Providence River Bridge/Iway Bridge, Providence, RI

Iway Bridge/Providence River Bridge

The  Providence River  Bridge in Providence, Rhode Island is a network arch bridge -- first one I've seen live -- at the mouth of the Providence River at the northern tip of Narragansett Bay. It's apparently the widest network arch bridge in the world -- seven lanes of traffic across, plus room for pedestrians. It was part of a renovation project a few years back that moved the I-95/I-195 intersection from its old position in the middle of the city to its current spot behind the Fox Point hurricane barrier, which you can see in front of the bridge, on the right.

Also, my car ;-)

Piers for the old I-195 bridge still sit in the canal

The  Providence River  Bridge (also known as the Iway Bridge) was built by the Cardi Corporation at the Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown -- the jumping off point for the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge. Once completed, it was put onto barges and floated up the bay to Providence, where cranes put it in its final position. One of the properties of this sort of bridge is the way it puts no tension on the bridge abutments, so it needn't be built in place.

The History Channel featured the Providence River Bridge on an episode of "Mega Movers -- Really Big Bridges". They show the bridge moved the 15 miles from North Kingstown to Providence. They also figure out how they would move the Golden Gate Bridge... probably worth watching. A YouTube user filmed the barge and the bridge going past up the bay; I've embedded it above.

Point Street Bridge

Just on the other side of the Fox Point hurricane barrier, the cantilever truss Point Street Bridge connects the banks of the Providence River for pedestrians and local traffic.

Providence River Bridge from the Water Street Bridge

With the completion of the Iway, Providence turned a blighted area of ruined buildings and traffic into a beautiful riverside park, capped on one side by the Providence River Bridge and the Point Street Bridge, and on the other by a series of decorative bridges that cross the river canal. There's plenty of parking all over, should you visit. India Street goes off to India Point to the east of the bridge, and that leads to the multispan arch Washington Bridge. I didn't get a picture of it (I was headed out of the city when I saw it), but that just gives me reason to return to one of the most beautiful capital cities in New England.

Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge, Jamestown-Newport, RI

Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge from Naval Station Newport

I kinda suspected I'd find myself sneaking into the Navy base to get a picture of this bridge. This was the weekend of the America's Cup race in Narragansett Bay. I'd hoped that the America's Cup catamarans would be sailing up to and under this bridge, but the course went toward the Long Island Sound and not this way.

I still thought maybe I could get a picture of the boats with the bridge in the background, but after a few attempts at dealing with Sailing Week traffic, parking and tourists, I just gave up trying to fit the race into my pictures and went looking for the shot. Maps had shown that the best vantage point on Aquidneck Island would be from the naval base, and I didn't know their policy on letting tourists with no Navy business on base to take pictures.

So I parked a bit away and just walked on to the base (though not all the way to the guard station). Took the shots and left. But, damn. Those Navy folks sure like their boats.

Newport Bridge from Jamestown

The Pell Bridge is New England's longest suspension bridge. It has a Warren truss deck that rises up to 215 feet above Narragansett Bay. The two towers are an astonishing 400 feet high. You can see the towers of this bridge from the central rise of the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, which is kinda cool.

The toll is a walloping $4.00 in each direction. Not all bad news, though. One of the best views of this bridge is from the tollbooth, where the road curves around a cove. There is a rocky beach that sits too low to get the good picture. You'd have to take it from the car. I did not expect the view and didn't have my phone taking pictures from the dash. I got the picture above on my way off the island, and it's just... okay.

Pell bridge towers

CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia

I also fell short on getting pictures of the cathedral-style towers as I crossed the bridge, so I am borrowing the shot from Wikipedia (with attribution!) just so I can point them out here. They utterly dwarf the traffic; I'd think they'd be happier if cars and trucks never sullied their pristine bridge.

It's hard to get a good picture of the bridge from some publicly accessible place. The east side of Conanicut(*) Island is probably the easiest place; there's lots of tourist and boating places. I just parked in a beachfront condo parking spot for the middle picture (actually a panorama of about a half dozen pictures). I parked in some marine supply shop's parking lot and walked into the Navy base for the top picture.

Newport is mostly interested in getting people to its shops and tourist attractions and not letting them hang around taking pictures of bridges. If you are interested in quaint shops and tourist attractions, Newport has you covered. 

(*) Connecticut and Conanicut sound so similar that they must be related... I thought... wrongly. Conanicut is named after Conanicus, a Narragansett Indian who gave permission for the English to use the island for grazing sheep. I'm betting he regretted that decision. Connecticut, on the other hand, is named for the Connecticut River, called "quinetucket" by the Algonquins.

The Algonquins

Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, North Kingstown-Jamestown, RI

Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge

Rhode Island is the country's smallest state but among its most densely populated. With Narragansett Bay splitting the state in two, it has miles and miles of protected coastline -- and a straight shot for any hurricanes heading up the coast, aiming straight for Providence, at the northern tip of the bay. The "island" in Rhode Island is Aquidneck Island, the large island in the bay where Newport stands. It was also known historically as Rhode Island; the mainland portions of the state were known as the Providence Plantations, and that is the full name of the state -- Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

I was headed to Newport this weekend to take in the America's Cup. So very, very crowded. So crowded that I couldn't take the crowds and left to take pictures of bridges and walk around Providence for a couple of hours.

The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge connects the town of North Kingston with the island of Conanicut in Narragansett Bay. It is a concrete box girder bridge with a dramatic rise to allow ships to sail through on their way to Providence. Unlike its partner on the other side of the island, the Pell Bridge, there is no toll on the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge. And though there is a narrow sidewalk on both sides, you cannot walk or bicycle on the bridge.

Giovanni da Verrazzano monument in Providence

It's no coincidence that two bridges in the area (this one and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in Staten Island) are named after famed explorer Giovanni da Verrazzanno. Unlike Christopher Columbus, who was content to explore the Caribbean and never sat foot on (what would become) North America, Verrazzano sailed up the coast from the Carolinas to Newfoundland, stopping in New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay. It was he who, upon seeing Aquidneck Island, compared it to the Greek island of Rhodes and gave the state its eventual name.

There is a monument to the explorer in front of the World War Memorial in Providence.

Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (from Jamestown)

This picture was taken on in Jamestown on Conanicut Island, with the sun to my back instead of right in the camera.

This entire island, and the Kingstown coast, are the exclusive domain of the wealthy. There is no beach access that I could find at all. The first picture was taken from the parking lot of a private club; this one from the side of the road. I got the shots, but I could have gotten better ones.

You can barely see in the above photo, to the left of the central rise, a lighthouse peaking out from behind a column. This is the Plum Beach lighthouse, but I think you'd actually have to be sailing on the bay itself to get a decent picture.

Parking, well, there really isn't any. Plenty of places from which to view the Pell Bridge on the other side, but the west coast of the island is all private property from any possible viewing angle.