Thursday, March 2, 2023

1914,1988,2021 Main Street Bridge over Erie Canal in Fairport, NY

(Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAERSatellite)

Erie Canal overview

3D Satellite

Looking Northwest. It looks like it was in a raised position while it was being renovated.
Upstate New York Railfan, Nov 2020

Looking Southeast. This view catches the skew of the bridge across the canal. The bridge has a 32-degree skew and 4% grade. [HAER-data, p2] It looks like the south side is higher. The photo of a plaque below confirms that.
Thomas Griebel, Oct 2018

Because of the 32-degree skew and 4% grade, no two corners have the same angle.
Jay Zbaczyniak (zbcznk), Sep 2016, cropped

Jay Zbaczyniak (zbcznk), Sep 2016

Construction is a lot easier if you can remove the water.
1 of many photos in ErieCanal
"Clearance under the Fairport Lift Bridge is approximately 6 feet when lowered (this varies from one side to the other due to the slope of the bridge), with a lift of 10 feet 7 inches. At normal water levels, clearance when raised is 16.3 feet, with a minimum at high water of 15.7 feet."

John Kucko Digital posted
Transformation Tuesday: Each season delivers its own brand of beauty here in New York State. 80 days and counting until the Erie Canal opens for the season (Fairport, NY).

Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor posted
The Fairport lift bridge is known for its unusual configuration. Built in 1914 as part of the Barge Canal, it carries main street across the canal at a 32-degree angle, and slopes southwest to northeast. The bridge is lower on the north side than the south; one side of the bridge is longer than the other. The bridge is an unusual decagon, no two angles are the same, and no corners are square. 📸: Fairport, Nikki Bittner Photography

I found a photo of the raised position that lets us see some of the sheaves that control the cables between the lift posts and the counterweights.
Photo via ErieCanal

As expected, since it is an Erie Canal bridge, it has stairways so that pedestrians can use the bridge when it is raised.
Street View, May 2022

Note that a crew member is getting something being delivered by the man on the bridge.
John Kucko Digital posted

Erie Canal Rewind: It was eight years ago today, on May 30th of 2017, when the massive Genesee Brewery “beer tanks” were pushed through Fairport, NY along the Erie Canal and under the iconic Lift Bridge there. A dozen of these massive fermentation tanks were transported to Rochester and the Genesee Brewery headquarters that spring, using the canal from the Albany area to Western New York. That was AFTER the tanks all arrived in New York City via the Atlantic Ocean and made their way up the Hudson River to the capital region (yes, they were manufactured overseas for some reason) My page was less than a year old, this was my first documentation project as I followed them from Rome, NY all the way to the brewery. Of all the subjects I’ve documented here on my page, this was among my very favorite—use of this historic waterway the way it was intended to be used 200 years ago when it opened. Captain Bob, manning the tug, did an amazing job that week as he navigated some precarious areas.
Lloyd Scott Hardin shared
Jim Ball: She a ‘tow boat’ pushing the barges. ‘Tugs’ are for the most part harbor assist craft.

It looks like the towboat has a rectractable pilothouse.
Another screenshot from the above video.

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