The Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge (also known as the Northampton Lattice Truss Bridge ) is a former crossing of Boston and Maine Railroad over the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts , connecting the towns of Northampton and Hadley , by the Norwottuck Rail Trail , which is currently used for bicycle and foot traffic.
5-437: The Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge is an eight-span steel lattice truss bridge . It crosses Elwell Island in the middle of the river, providing no access to the island in an attempt to keep the island otherwise untouched. Riding over the bridge shows eight spans, with two of them over Elwell Island. It was built by the R. F. Hawkins Ironworks Company. To survive the 1936 flood, railroad cars loaded with scrap metal were placed on
10-490: Is a cross between Town's lattice truss and the bowstring truss . It was developed in Ireland as a wide-span shallow rise roof truss for industrial structures. McTear & Co of Belfast , Ireland began fabricating these trusses in wood starting around 1866. By 1899, spans of 24 metres (79 ft) had been achieved, and in the 20th century, shipyards and airplane hangars demanded ever greater clear spans. Howard Carroll built
15-488: Is a form of truss bridge that uses many small, closely spaced diagonal elements forming a lattice . The design was patented in 1820 by architect Ithiel Town . Originally a means of erecting a substantial bridge from mere planks employing lower–skilled labor, rather than heavy timbers and more expensive carpenters and equipment, the lattice truss has also been constructed using many relatively light iron or steel members. The individual elements are more easily handled by
20-704: The bridge to weigh it down. The bridge was redesigned by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. of Watertown , rebuilt by MassHighway , and opened in 1992 to bicycle and foot traffic as part of the Norwottuck Rail Trail . This article about a specific rail bridge in the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a bridge in Massachusetts is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lattice truss bridge A lattice truss bridge
25-460: The construction workers, but the bridge also requires substantial support during construction. A simple lattice truss will transform the applied loads into a thrust, as the bridge will tend to change length under load. This is resisted by pinning the lattice members to the top and bottom chords, which are more substantial than the lattice members, but which may also be fabricated from relatively small elements rather than large beams. The Belfast truss
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