Androscoggin Pedestrian Bridge

The Swinging Bridge is a pedestrian suspension bridge spanning the Androscoggin River between the Topsham Heights neighborhood of Topsham, Maine and neighboring Brunswick. It was built in 1892 for workers working at the Cabot Mill in Brunswick.

Description

The bridge has two steel A-frame towers, each 30 feet 6 inches (9.30 m) in height, mounted on concrete abutments. Cables are suspended from the tower, supporting a wooden plank deck suspended from the cable by metal rods, and railings 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) high. The span across the river between the towers is 332 feet (101 m), and the distance between the cable anchor points is 520 feet (160 m). The cable is 1.875 inches (4.76 cm) in diameter, with seven wires each composed of seven strands.

History

The bridge was constructed by John A. Roebling's Sons Company, the engineering firm that designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and other bridges around the world. The bridge's history is closely tied to the French Canadian heritage of Topsham and Brunswick.

In the early 1900s, the present steel towers replaced the original timber-framed towers. A flood destroyed the superstructure of the bridge in 1936 and it was rebuilt in 1938 by the Works Progress Administration. The current cables are original to the bridge's construction.

The towns of Brunswick and Topsham created a joint committee to repair the bridge in 2000. The bridge renovation was completed in December 2006. Public parks on each side of the bridge were completed in summer 2007.

A reopening and dedication ceremony was held on September 8, 2007, with two of John A. Roebling's great-great-great granddaughters in attendance.

The Swinging Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in January 2004. It was dedicated as a Maine Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in May 2011 by the Maine Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The bridge is set to be a part of the new fully accessible Androscoggin Riverwalk currently being designed. Completion of the project is anticipated within three to five years.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Androscoggin Swinging Bridge" and modified on July 23, 2019 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.