Niantic River Bridge, Railway bridge in East Lyme, US.
Niantic River Bridge is a railway bridge spanning the Niantic River in East Lyme that carries two tracks of the Northeast Corridor mainline. The structure accommodates regular passenger and freight trains traveling between New York and Boston.
The original bridge was built in 1907 by King Bridge Company for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. A new structure was constructed in 2012 to replace the aging span.
The bridge represents railroad engineering milestones in Connecticut, documented through the Historic American Engineering Record for future generations to study.
The bridge can be viewed from the river's edge or from train windows as trains pass through at varying speeds. Good vantage points exist on both riverbanks for observing the structure.
The bascule bridge features separate counterweights for each main girder that create a navigation channel for river traffic. This design allows smaller vessels to pass underneath without requiring the bridge to raise.
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