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The original 'Jamestown Bridge', connecting Conanicut Island in Narragansett Bay to mainland Rhode Island, was first opened to traffic in 1940. With a total length of 6,892 ft (2,100 m), the bridge is the third longest in Rhode Island, ranking behind its replacement, the 7,350 ft (2,240 m) (total length) Jamestown Bridge, and the 11,248 ft (3,428 m) (total length) Newport Bridge. It replaced ferry service as the primary connection for the Town of Jamestown on Conanicut Island. The price tag was just over $3 million (U.S. 1940 dollars) which was paid for by tolls until June 28, 1969. The main span of the old bridge was demolished on April 18, 2006.

Contents

Structure

Demolition

External links

Structure

The bridge consisted of 69 spans with a large continuous cantilever Warren truss centerpiece. The 600 ft (183 m) main span was 135 ft (41 m) above the western portion of the Narragansett Bay. The bridge was long thought to be a danger to motorists, being only two lanes wide and undivided. Its steep climb proved challenging for some vehicles and with no passing lanes or shoulders, hazardous conditions resulted when stalled vehicles were on the bridge. The roadway deck through the cantilevered span was an open steel-grid deck, like the (now-replaced) Sikorsky Bridge on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, that proved to be extremely slippery when wet (or even dry). To solve the problems of the aging bridge, the RIDOT began construction of the new Jamestown Bridge in 1985. The new bridge, opened in October of 1992, has 4 divided lanes plus shoulders and a sidewalk.

Demolition

The U.S. Coast Guard had long declared the old bridge to be a navigation hazard and demanded that the state dismantle the eastern two thirds of it. The Sierra Club had suggested turning the bridge into a bike route/walkway, but the aging structure appeared to be in worse condition than previously thought, prompting officials to remove the entire structure and build a new fishing pier where the western portion of the bridge once stood.
On April 18, 2006, the main span of the Old Jamestown Bridge was brought down by 75 pounds of RDX explosives and 350 charges. On May 18, 2006, crews imploded the trusses that once carried the side spans. Throughout the summer of 2006 workers removed the remaining support piers and low-level approach spans west of the main channel. Demolition of the old Jamestown Birdge is expected to be completed with the removal of the abutments on both shores by the end of 2006.
Removal of the old Jamestown Bridge cost $22 million--more than seven times the money spent building it.

External links

★ Art In Ruins: Jamestown Bridge

★ Coverage of the demolition

★ More coverage of the demolition