Blackledge River Railroad Bridge

History

The Blackledge River Railroad Bridge is a Warren truss bridge that was built on the site of an earlier railroad bridge. The original bridge was completed and opened by August 3, 1877, likely built by the Colchester Railway Company. It was part of the 3.59 miles (5.78 km) of track from Colchester, Connecticut, to Turnerville (now Amston, Connecticut). The line was leased to the Boston and New York Air-Line Railroad, which reported improvement in 1879 and a new 110-foot-long (34 m) iron bridge by 1881. The line was leased to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1882. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad dominated the region and petitioned for changes to the Air Line; the approval came on July 7, 1911.

The historic Blackledge River Railroad Bridge was constructed around 1912 as an improved version of the previous bridge. The new 108-foot-long (33 m) bridge integrated the previous abutments into the design and was elevated a further 5 feet (1.5 m) above the Blackledge River. It was abandoned in the 1960s and sold to the Connecticut Department of Transportation. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 31, 1986. The bridge is now located in Airline State Park. By 2007, a wooden pedestrian bridge was built atop the railroad bridge and crosses over the Blackledge River.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.