Road: (
Satellite)
Both BridgeHunter and HistoricBridges indicate that Maine Central is now owned by Main Eastern Railroad, but a USGS map labels the route as Maine Coast.
The upper deck of the old bridge used to carry US-1 until the new bridge was built. When the new one opened, they removed the road approaches from the old one. Obviously, the new bridge was built with concrete box girders.
The new bridge cost $46.6m. [
route1views]
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| C Hanchey via BridgeHunter |
When closed, the lift span has a clearance of 10' (3m) and a width of 200' (61m). [
WaterwayGuide]
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MaineMemory
"The bridge that is named for Maine State Senator Frank W. Carlton was built to carry automobiles and trains across the Kennebec River between Bath and Woolwich." |
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Roger Williams added
View of the Carlton Bridge from the Sagadahoc Bridge. The vertical-lift bridge was built in 1927 and carried both automobile and freight train traffic between Bath and Woolwich Maine over the Kennebec River. In 2000 the Sagadahoc Bridge was built next to the Carlton Bridge for automobile traffic and the upper deck of the Carlton bridge closed. Trains continue to cross the Kennebec on the lower deck. |
It appears that the lower deck of the lift span could handle vehicles as well as trains so that it could remain allow vehicle traffic when it was raised to a higher clearance. We have seen that with other lift bridges such as the
Portage Bridge.
I'm surprised that I've seen so many photos with the span all the way down, but without a train on the lower deck. I would think it would only go down when a train wants to use it.
This shows that the lower deck still has two tracks. I wonder how the bridge inspectors got a pickup truck and worker lift on the upper deck since the approach spans have been removed.
The two most recent street views caught the span in its partially opened position. My first thought was that since the upper deck is no longer used, the span could be left open all the way. But then I realized that there are probably no longer any big boats using the river so saving wear and tear on the lift equipment makes sense.
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