Ranger Bridge

Ranger Bridge
Ranger Bridge in 2007
Coordinates	44°09′14″N 72°02′27″W
Carries	US 302
Crosses	Connecticut River
Locale	between Woodsville, New Hampshire and Wells River, Vermont
Official name	Veterans Memorial Bridge
Characteristics
Design	steel three-hinged arch truss[1]
Total length	259 feet (79 m)[1]
History
Designer	John W. Storrs (1917 bridge) J. R. Worcester (1923 bridge)
Constructed by	Boston Bridge Company (1923 bridge)
Construction end	1917, 1923, 2003 rehab
Location

The Ranger Bridge (officially Veterans Memorial Bridge) between Wells River, Vermont and Woodsville, New Hampshire, is a three-hinged steel arch truss bridge over the Connecticut River.^[1] It was built in 1923 to replace a 1917 bridge and is the oldest steel arch bridge over the Connecticut River.^[1]

History

The Wells River Bridge was built in 1903 to carry rail and road traffic. In 1917, the road traffic was rerouted over a new bridge, a three-span Warren deck truss designed by John W. Storrs, just downstream, called the Ranger Bridge, for around $65,000 (US$1,550,000 with inflation^[2]).^[3] A flood undermined and destroyed this bridge in 1922.^[1][3]

J. R. Worcester designed the next bridge, which was built by the Boston Bridge Company, the same combination of designer and builder which made the Arch Bridge in Bellows Falls 18 years earlier.^[3] The current bridge was completed in 1923 as a three-hinged steel arch bridge.^[1] It was rehabilitated in 2001–3.

See also

• Transport portal
• Engineering portal
• List of crossings of the Connecticut River

References

1. Knoblock, Glenn A. (25 January 2012). Historic Iron and Steel Bridges in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 177–178. ISBN 9780786448432.
2. 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
3. List of Highway Bridges on the Connecticut River Between Vermont and New Hampshire by 1906, with Notes on Later Spans (PDF). Concord, NH: New Hampshire Division of Historical Records. July 2009. p. 8. Retrieved 29 May 2015.

External links