New Street Bridge
Fall River, MA
2020
The existing New Street Bridge spans 32 feet over the Fall River Secondary rail line providing access from North Main Street to a petroleum tank farm and transmission line tower structure. The bridge was originally constructed in 1850 and reconstructed in 1900. The bridge superstructure is a simple span consisting of 15 steel beams supporting a timber deck with a bituminous wearing surface. The bridge abutment consists of large granite blocks with mortar joints.
The bridge will be used to transport equipment and materials for a new transmission line project. As a result, the bridge will need to support heavy construction equipment and materials with loads up to 80,000 pounds gross vehicle weight (GVW). Currently, there are no construction drawings and no load rating for the bridge. Steere Engineering prepared an inspection report of the bridge, in conjunction with our geotechnical investigation and evaluation, to determine if the existing bridge can be used as-is or temporarily modified to support the heavy loads.
Our geotechnical investigation included borings and probes to determine the subsurface conditions and general geometery of the abutments. FR Eningeering provided a stamped letter report summarizing the findings of our subsurface investigation and analysis of the overall stability of the abutments with the anticipated heavy loads.
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