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| HAER MASS,7-SPRIF,7- 3. General view from west river bank, looking southeast - Hampden County Memorial Bridge, Spanning Connecticut River on Memorial Drive, Springfield, Hampden County, MA Photos from Survey HAER MA-114 |
"Significance: The Hampden County Memorial Bridge's main span is the longest concrete deck arch span in Massachusetts. The bridge is a finely-engineered example of a rare self-supporting arch rib reinforcement technique, derived from the Melan tradition. Once encased in concrete, the steel arch reinforcing truss acts as a partner with the concrete in bearing the dead load of the structure. Although the deck is supported on spandrel columns, they are concealed behind a fascia spandrel wall, conveying the Impression of a solid structure. The consulting architects, Haven & Hoyt, embellished the structure with artificial stone, notably in the four pylons of the main channel span." [HAER_data]
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| Photo by Doug Kerr via BridgeHunter |
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| Kevin Lagasse posted The Memorial Bridge over the Connecticut River looking north-ish. From the Springfield, MA side this past winter. |
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| StructureMag Hampden County Memorial Bridge looking west from Springfield, August 1922. Springfield viaduct in the foreground. 1816 covered wooden toll bridge upstream, in the process of deconstruction. A segment of railroad bridge is visible beyond. Courtesy of the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History. "The Connecticut’s soft riverbed precluded solid concrete and masonry structures, and exposed steel arches were deemed unpleasing....The bridge, designed in the Beaux-Arts style, boasted seven parabolic concreted rib arches on six piers and two abutments that spanned 1,200 feet [366m] across the river. A nine-span viaduct of 314 feet [96m] over railroad tracks on the Springfield (east) side formed the Springfield approach." |
This shows the arched steel trusses that will be encased in concrete. And this is another example of how a derrick holding a pipe was used to place concrete.
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| HAER_data, p13 |
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| StructureMag "Bridge construction. Concrete hoisting tower (130 feet) shown. Concrete was transported from mixing plant on West Springfield side along a temporary wood trestle 70 feet upstream. Courtesy of the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History." [This article describes the Melan system of using steel arches inside concrete.] |
The Melan system significantly reduced the falsework because an arch truss was prefabricated as four segments, and then the truss could hold the forms for the concrete.
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| StructureMag Arch erection in span 7, Springfield side. Courtesy of the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History. "A total of 10,500 pine piles, 20 to 40 feet in height and spaced 20 feet on center on hard clay, form the foundation for six river piers and two abutments....The arch span lengths vary from 110 to 209 feet; the span rises from 19.1 to 29.7 feet. Marked by four 80-foot beacon towers, the channel span is 176 feet in width and 40 feet above low water over 60 feet." 'The Melan system fell out of favor in part as steel became more expensive and less available. More so, a better understanding of cement and concrete technologies, composite behavior, and the development of uniform codes and construction methods moved structures towards more efficient and economical bar reinforcement. The system experienced a rebirth in the 1970s which continues in Japan and China, where self-supporting arches are used to construct bridge spans in mountainous regions.' |
Three of the five arches are concentrated in the center to support the streetcar load. [StructureMag]
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| HAER MASS,7-SPRIF,7- 7. View from under deck of west span, showing floor system, looking east |
The four ornamental pylons are navigation beacons.
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| Street View, Oct 2023 |
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| enr (pay count), Photo by Matt Putzel, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) "A Midwest-style tornado struck the city in June 2011. The tornado was one of the most powerful storms of its type to strike Massachusetts. The Commonwealth does get hit by a few twisters annually, but typically they are weaker and short-lived storms. This tornado's storm path was 37 miles long, touching down in Westfield and raking towns and forests to the east all the way to Sturbridge. In Springfield, the damage path crossed a swath of the downtown, damaging or destroying hundreds of structures....Although much of Springfield was later pummeled, the bridge, itself, was not damaged. A truck overturned in the wind, which was the extent of major impacts." It was an EF3 tornado. |
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