1836,1927 Broad Street Bridge/Erie Canal Aqueduct over Genesee River in Rochester, NY

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

The lower row of arches held the Erie Canal Aqueduct from 1842 to 1919. The upper row of arches was added during the 1920s to carry Broad Street across the river.

Street View, Jun 2017

HistoricBridges and BridgeHunter
Structure as seen in 1890.

Postcard via BridgeHunter

Note the contrast in river levels in the two historical photos.

c1906 photo, credit: LoC from Detroit Publishing Co. via BridgeHunter

Alex Fleissig posted two photos with the comment:

Genesee Aqueduct, 1897 and 2025

The Erie Canal’s second aqueduct over the Genesee River was constructed in 1836-1842. In 1927 the canal bed in downtown Rochester was converted to a subway system, and a road for automobile traffic was build on top of the aqueduct. This structure became what we now call the Broad Street Bridge.

The subway system was abandoned in 1956.

1

2
[Several comments mentioned that downtown Rochester is now "dead." No people is one thing, but no cars is hard to imagine.]

As mentioned, the canal was moved south of town in 1919, and it now crosses the river here. I fired up the time machine to see where the canal used to cross the river.

1895/95 Rochester Quad @ 62,500