Boston's Small Suspension Bridge

[monsoon]

[Scott]

I assume you mean this bridge because it's the only one in the public garden though the cables hardly look structural. In true Bostonian fashion it isn't on most maps and has no name that I know of. The body of water that it spans is merely called the "Lagoon". I took my wife for a ride on the Swan Boats for her birthday. No trip to Boston would be complete without riding them.

Boston Public Garden

"...established in 1837...Its 24 acres, developed from what was once marsh land, is the landscape design of George V. Meacham, winner of a public competition for which he received an award of one hundred dollars....Numerous works of public art adorn its winding paths that skirt its three acre lagoon....In 1859, by an Act of the Massachusetts Legislature, the Public Garden was preserved forever as an open space for the citizenry. "

[monsoon]

[Cotuit]

I've often heard/read that that was the "world's smallest suspension bridge." And I've often walked over it and thought that it looked like the cables weren't doing a whole hell of a lot to hold the bridge up. I wonder if at one time the cables did hold it up and at some point it was retrofitted making the cables mere decoration. We have a road bridge in Providence that used to be a swing bridge, but renovations made it a fixed span and made the superstrcture superfluous.

[turlough]

Now that's neat I have never seen anything like that before if i ever go to boston i'll try and see that.

[Allan]

That's a cool little bridge. The cables definately don't look like they're doing much...the beams under the bridge look to be more than enough to support all of the bridge's weight. But then again, I'm not a structural engineer, so maybe I'm completely wrong.

[tocoto]

Amazing shots. I've been there a thousand times and never even thought of taking a picture of the bottom of that bridge. I wondered about headroom for the boats though. I now see there isn't much.