Saturday, February 22, 2025

1890,1985 Waterville Bridge over Swatara Creek on the Appalachian Trail

Current Location: (Satellite)

Street View, Aug 2021

Bob Dover posted
The Waterville Bridge is an example of a lenticular truss bridge constructed by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company of East Berlin, Connecticut. The Waterville Bridge dates from 1890, and has all of the detailed decoration, including an ornamental frieze and date plaque over the portal, that is associated with the Berlin Iron Bridge Company bridges. While most rehabilitated bridges are reconstructed in place or moved, at most, a few miles, you will no longer find the Waterville Bridge anywhere near Waterville. This bridge was moved more than 100 miles in 1985 to carry the Appalachian Trail across Swatara Creek in Swatara State Park, east of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
There is a sub-chapter on the lenticular truss bridges of the Berlin Iron Bridge Company in Chapter 2 of my book, Bridgespotting: A Guide to Bridges that Connect People, Places, and Times.


Sergey Reznichenko, Nov 2021

Pin connecting a lenticular truss is interesting.
David Stanton, May 2021

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