1901 CN/GTW International Bridge over Niagara River and Black Rock Canal at Buffalo, NY

River: (Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges: Satellite)

Canal: (Satellite)

Technically, I assume the International Bridge is just the part over the river. According to the satellite image, the international border goes through the center pier of the swing span. But I also include the swing span over the Black Rock Canal. I remember this canal from my study of the Peace Bridge down at the mouth of the Niagara River. 

This bridge uses the piers from the original 1873 bridge. Considering the amount of ice Buffalo must see, I continue to be amazed by the strength of cut-stone piers.

There are more spans out-of-frame to the left. This captures both swing spans because we can see the top of the canal span on the right side as well as the river span.

Street View

I found a gap in the tree line that allows me to capture most of the spans.

Street View

And a gap that gets all of the spans.

Street View

And this closeup of a typical span shows it is a pin-connected truss.

Street View

Going back to the original tree gap to get a closeup of the swing spans. Evidently the span over the canal is open for marine traffic when the street view car drove by.

Street View

This is the span over the canal.

Street View

Rather than build a bobtail span, they let the balance span extend out over the road.

3D Satellite

Robert Craig Goodenough posted six photos with the comment: "International Railroad Bridge crossing the Black Rock Canal and the Niagara River from the United Sates to Canada.  Photos taken last summer [2020] from the USA side."

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[I thought this was a duplicate of 3 until I noticed the train.]

 

The bridge in the background caught my eye.

Deborah Brown posted
Good Afternoon Buffalorians 🚶🏽‍♀️ Rich Marina Buffalo NY. 1963 ⛵
Brian R Maghran: Would that be the Canadiana there?
Al Filimonow: Brian R Maghran sure is
James Mazur: The Canadiana came back after serving Boblo Island and having her front end damaged by a lift bridge.

Jonathan Konopka posted
This is the International Railway Bridge, which connects Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, NY. It is a through truss bridge with two swing spans that was built in 1901 and carries the Canadian National Stamford Subdivision over the Niagara River. Photo credit belongs to Tom Habak.

 

Bridges Now and Then posted
"The International Bridge as it appeared around 1900 from the U.S. side of the Niagara River, near Squaw Island, New York." (WNY Heritage)
[Squaw Island has been renamed as Unity Island.]

Brian R. Wroblewski posted
The Coast Guard keeps playing a pre-recorded message that the CN RR's Harbor Draw bridge "is stuck in the down position". It says the bridge was expected to be back in service on the 14th. Not much of that makes any sense. I'm guessing they mean the "closed" position since it's a swing bridge & I wonder if the message is stuck on repeat for the last 2 days or if the bridge still isn't fixed.

 

GObike posted

According to Buffalo Sewer Authority, there will be temporary closures of the International Rail Bridge 

 - This Friday MARCH 1st  for an estimated time frame of 2.0 hours.  This is estimated to occur at 11:00 AM.  

 - Closures in March & April will occur on Wednesdays and Thursdays and will occur from an ESTIMATED time frame from 05:00-13:00

March 1, 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28, April 3, April 4.

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These closures were not orchestrated by BSA but we were informed by CN (the railroad company) that this is necessary to maintain the active international industrial infrastructure. 

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From GObike: Hopefully we can get some improvements to the walk/bike crossing, including consistently keeping it open.

Michael Magnuson shared

0:55 video @ 0:13
Swing Bridge on Unity Island - Aerial Drone Video - Timelapse

Digitized by Google, p3, via Historic Bridges
[This article verifies that the bridge was owned in 1928 by Grand Trunk Railway, thus the label "rrGTW" for this post.]

When they constructed the 1901 bridge, they used a travelling truss. The travelling falsework was a truss that was bigger than the new trusses, which was bigger than the old trusses. The travelling falsework was built over shallow water using traditional falsework. [eBook] 

Brian R. Wroblewski posted four photos with the comment: "I was out to catch a tug-barge unit this morning in the Black Rock Canal in Buffalo & ended up under the CN RR Harbor Draw swing bridge on the bike path. Here's a few detail shots of the bridge's locking mechanism on the East side of the canal. It was originally built in 1916 & still operates."

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