Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Rusty Trusses



The Long Island Bridge is a 16-span, approximately 3,500 foot-long structure carrying a two-lane road between Long Island to the north and Moon Island to the south in Boston Harbor. One must drive through Quincy to get there. The bridge not only looks to be in need of paint but inspection work performed from a barge-mounted bucket and from snoopers working from the roadway found that many of the vertical members of the trusses were rusted through. Several floor beams were no longer supporting the deck above. Severe load restrictions and partial lane closures have been instituted to help prevent any future structural failures.

There were missing pieces of concrete 4 decades ago when I rode my bike across the bridge . . . making for a scary bike ride. Wouldn't it be great to put some people back to work fixing bridges like this one? There are so many public works projects that need to be done.

2 comments:

Interpolactic said...

Always wondered about the structural soundness of this bridge. It certainly has a hauntingly mysterious personality, thanks in part to the history of Long Island and of course its appearance. Here's a condensed view of it when I walked along the causeway leading to Moon Island: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcsenger/6378343111/in/photostream

Nice blog! It is bookmarked. Cheers.

Unknown said...

Scary, I drove over this not long ago when I volunteered at the Friends of Boston Homless Farm program. Glad I survived.

Summer Attraction

This tiger swallowtail butterfly was a delight to see pollinating the phlox bed along my driveway.