Bulkeley Bridge

[blink55184]

How was it built? I have seen pictures that just confuse me, like this one.

How do you go about re-routing or cutting off a river into a small stream to build a bridge...I just dont know

[mikel]

Not sure, but here's a fun website showing the Bulkeley's predecessors. I would love to ride the trolley over the wooden bridge, or even walk across the zig zagging temporary bridge.

http://www.mindspring.com/~jslj/hartfordbridge.html

[Bill Mocarsky]

Some more pictures as well as some history of the Bulkeley Bridge

[blink55184]

Some more pictures as well as some history of the Bulkeley Bridge

Yah, that is where I got the picture from.

Doesnt explain that photo though

[Cotuit]

I don't think the river is actually blocked or diverted in that image. I think the viewer just can't see over the bank and down to the river level. The railroad track seems to be built on a seperate tressle, and the bracing within the arches looks to be sitting on top of the piers above the river. There could be a small coffer dam stopping a small portion of the river, but I'm sure the entire Connecticut River wasn't diverted, that's only done for dams.

Here's a photo of a stone arch being built over flowing water as an example.

[beerbeer]

They just keep putting dirt down building a road straight into the river and they continue until they are about halfway out. Then they take a left or right still building the dirt road. Then they head back to the shore. Or build another road fron the shore to connect to the turn.

This gives you a shape like and upside "U" with the shoreline closing the top of the "U".

The then pump out the water from the middle of the U and lay the funfdation for the bridge. Then they do the same from the other side.

It can be more complicated. The can build "U"s from both shores and narrow the river channel so it flows between them.

But that's basically how they do it. Very low tech. I watched them build the Enfield bridge over the Connecticut River when I was a kid.