Salisbury Street Bollman Bridge over C&O Canal in Williamsport, MD

(Satellite)

C&O Canal Overview

I added the label "bridgeRare" because it is a Bollman bridge.

The Western Maryland Lift Bridge is in the left background.

Street View, Apr 2016

Metrotrails posted, doubled the size

Historic NPS image of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Williamsport Maryland approaching the pony-Pratt iron truss bridge carrying Salisbury Street to River Bottom Park. The bridge was built in 1879 by Baltimore engineer Wendell Bollman's Patapsco Bridge and Ironworks. 

There are very few remaining Bollman bridges today. Another is in Savage, Maryland, and another is on Great Allegheny Passage near Meyersdale Pennsylvania.

The Western Maryland Lift Bridge is across the top of this photo. The truss is obstructed by a pedestrian bridge on this side.

Seimen Burum, Sep 2024

Metrotrails posted

Approaching the pony-Pratt iron truss bridge carrying Salisbury Street to River Bottom Park across the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The bridge was built in 1879 by Baltimore engineer Wendell Bollman's Patapsco Bridge and Ironworks. 

There are very few remaining Bollman bridges today. Another is in Savage, Maryland, and another is on Great Allegheny Passage near Meyersdale Pennsylvania.

Metrotrails shared

1909,1980 US-11 Bridge over Potomac River and C&O Canal at Williamsport, MD

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

The C&O Canal  and the Western Maryland Lift Bridge are in the right foreground.

Street View, Apr 2016

I was going to pass on this post until I saw the date of 1906. A steel stringer bridge back then must have been a bleeding edge design. Also, that is an impressive flood plain.

Metrotrails posted
Rt 11 Potomac River Bridge in Williamsport Maryland, seen from the C&O Canal. The nearly 1,600 ft [488m] bridge opened in 1909.
Metrotrails shared

C&O Canal Lock #44 and Lockhouse in Williamsport, MD

Lock: (Satellite)

Lockhouse: (Satellite)

C&O Canal Overview

Looking downstream (towards Washington DC).

Trail View, Apr 2016
Dennis DeBruler commented on the post below

This is one of the few lockhouses that have been preserved, https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q8dk3s2YCdvoP53e8.

Metrotrails posted
Historic 1919 view of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Lock 44 in Williamsport Maryland, with lock tender and family, identified as Harvey Brant.

Codie Volkert: How long did the C&O canal run for?

Metrotrails: Codie Volkert till 1924. This section opened 1833.

Judging by the scale on this map, it looks like the lock could handle a 14' x 80' canal boat.

Satellite

1850-1924 C&O Canal Overview

I've come across enough C&O Canal artifacts that it is time for an overview.

CanalTrust

The significance of this connection ["between the coalfields of the Allegheny Mountains and the urban markets at the upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay"] was first appreciated by George Washington, who spent much of his private life surveying and speculating on land in the Potomac headwaters. He knew that linking the Potomac to the Forks of the Ohio (present-day Pittsburgh) would connect the young, coastal nation to the vast resources of the continental interior.

Though construction began in 1828, the canal wasn’t completed until 1850, several years after the B&O Railroad had already reached Cumberland. The canal couldn’t compete with rail in terms of speed or capacity, and so it was nearly obsolete from the time of its opening. Only bulk commodities, like lumber, wheat and especially coal, ever depended to any large extent on the canal for access to markets. Nevertheless, the canal operated (with only occasional interruptions in the wake of especially devastating floods) until 1924 when a damaging flood destroyed it beyond repair. People continued to live in cabins and shanties along the canal for another 45 years, until the national park was established in 1971. The canal’s transportation history is particularly evident along the stretch from Seneca to Georgetown where the National Park Service (NPS) has made an effort to keep it watered.

[CanalTrust]

nps

npmaps_upper_detail

npmaps_lower_detail

npmaps_upper_simple

npmaps_lower_simple

nps_components
1: aqueducts
2: canal prism (This page has some details about the construction of the canal including the legal battle with the B&O Railroad concerning "the right-of-way from Point of Rocks to Harpers Ferry.")
3: lockhouse
4: lift lock - boat elevator
"There are 74 locks in total! You may say, "But there is a lock named Lock 75!" And that is because Lock 65 doesn't exist. When the canal was constructed they realized that they didn't need to build a Lock 65. The builders found it was too much work to change the name of every lock after 65 in the paperwork."
The average lift was 8' (2.4m) and the max lift was 10' (3m).

GeorgetownHeritage
Congress wanted to fill in the canal and create a parkway for automobiles. But preservationists objected and The Canal was designated a National Historical Park in 1971.

Judging by the scale on this map, it looks like the locks could handle a 14' x 80' canal boat.

Satellite via Lock #44

Canal artifacts that I have noted:

• Aqueduct over Monocacy River
• Diversion Dam #4
• Lock #44 in Williamsport, MD
• Bollman Bridge in Williamsport, MD
• Western Maryland Bridge in Williamsport, MD
• US-11 Bridge in Williamsport, MD
• The prism in  Hancock, MD
• Paw Paw Tunnel

1859 Cheasapeak and Albermarle Canal (Intercoastal Waterway) and Great Bridge Lock & C&A/NS Bridge

Virginia Cut: (Satellite, between Elizabeth and North Landing Rivers.)

North Caroline Cut: (Satellite, between Coinjock Bay and North River.)

Lock: (Satellite)

Bridge: (Satellite)

The lock is more of a guard lock; that is, it doesn't have a lot of lift. The boat on the right is in the lock. On the right side of this view, we get a glimpse of a boat in the lock.

Street View, Aug 2023

carolana

The lock is "a reversible guard lock with double gates at each end of a 220-foot long chamber....The guard lock, reconditioned in 1973 and floored, is unique since it handles alternate heads of water from west and east in the tidal Elizabeth River and fresh water from the North Landing River." [carolana]

Satellite

1902/23 Norfolk Quad @ 125,000

The 75 mile canal had to cut through just 14 miles of land. "The Virginia cut was 8.45 miles long, and the North Carolina cut was 5.6 miles long....The United States government acquired the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal in 1912 and improved it, first eliminating the guard lock, then in 1932 replacing it with the present six hundred (600) foot steel and concrete guard lock. The channel was dredged and maintained for a twelve (12) foot draft. Covering a distance of almost two hundred (200) miles from Norfolk, VA to Beaufort, NC, the waterway varies in bottom width from ninety (90) feet in land cuts to three hundred (300) feet in open waters. Between 1970 and 1979, commerce on the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal portion of the Intracoastal Waterway averaged roughly 1.4 million tons annually." [carolana]

The bridge was built by the original Norfolk Southern, not today's NS. The bridge is now owned by the Chesapeake & Albemarie Railroad.

1 of 6 photos posted by Tom Blair, cropped
Took the skiff out for a bit today.  Went out in the Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal (Intercoastal Waterway).  This is the NS drawbridge over the canal, still used today by the Chesapeake and Albemarle Railroad

Some of the views do show it is used by commercial traffic. For example:

Street View, May 2018

A train must be close to the bridge because the bridge is not in the raised position.

Street View, Mar 2023

Three UP Bridges over Mojave River in Afton Canyon

West: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Middle: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

East: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

All of the length information comes from the appropriate Archived Bridge Hunter webpages.

West

You don't have to worry about vegetation blocking your view in this area.

Street View, Jan 2024

Length of largest span: 178.0 ft.

Total length: 380.0 ft.

Middle

Street View, Jan 2024

Apr 2010 Photo by Craig Philpott via ArchivedBridgeHunter_middle

Length of largest span: 184.0 ft.

Total length: 328.0 ft.

East

Paul Jansson posted
Union Pacific's truss bridge over the Mojave River near the east end of Afton Canyon, just a few hundred yards west of W. Basin siding.  9/29/2012

Street View, Jan 2024

Length of largest span: 178.0 ft.

Total length: 370.0 ft.

I-69 Ohio River Crossing Bridge at Evansville + Henderson

(Satellite, construction of the bridge is planned for 2027-31.)

To avoid the stigma of a "bridge to nowhere," they are first going to build roads to nowhere in Kentucky and then in Indiana.

i69ohiorivercrossing_maps

I could not find a rendering of the bridge so I don't know if it will be a cable-stayed or tied-arch bridge. But given the recent track record for Ohio River birdges, it will probably be another cable-stayed bridge.