Potomac Aqueduct - Washington, D.C.
N 38° 54.255 W 077° 04.216
18S E 320482 N 4308188
Quick Description: The Potomac Aqueduct Bridge (also called Alexandria Aqueduct) was a bridge between Georgetown, Washington, D.C., and Rosslyn, Virginia, in Arlington County.
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Date Posted: 5/17/2008 7:12:54 PM
Waymark Code: WM3TT8
Views: 74
Long Description:From
Wikipedia: The Potomac Aqueduct Bridge "was
built to transport cargo-carrying boats on the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal in Georgetown across the Potomac River to the Alexandria
Canal. During their lives, the same eight piers supported three
different bridges: a wooden canal bridge, a wooden double-deck
canal and roadway bridge, and a roadway-only iron truss bridge."
"In 1830, merchants from Alexandria, Virginia, proposed linking
their city to Georgetown to capitalize on the new Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal. Congress granted a charter to the Alexandria Canal
Company in 1830, and construction began soon on the Aqueduct Bridge
that would carry canal boats across the Potomac River and downriver
on the Virginia side without unloading in Georgetown. The Aqueduct
Bridge was designed by Major William Turnbull. Construction of the
bridge and Alexandria Canal began in 1833; both were completed a
decade later. To withstand Potomac ice floes, the piers were made
of gneiss boated down from quarries upstream and were sloped
upwards from the river on their upstream sides. The water-filled
bridge was a weatherproofed timber queen-post truss construction.
The Civil War interrupted plans to make an upper level for a
railroad crossing above the lower canal level, and instead the
canal was drained to make a roadway for military troops."
"In 1866, the boat channel was restored to private ownership,
and, in 1868, arching Howe trusses were installed to support a toll
highway and footpath on top of the lower canal level intersecting
to M Street. The going rate for a foot passenger was two cents; a
horse or cattle, five cents; a vehicle drawn by one animal cost
fifteen cents, twenty-five cents if drawn by two; and a penny for
any pig, sheep or other live animal. The only exemptions from the
tolls were the military troops and munitions."
"In the 1880s, the old bridge was sold to the federal government
and replaced in 1886 by a light iron truss bridge for wheeled
traffic. In 1889, the northern arch in the Washington abutment was
enlarged so that the Georgetown Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad could pass underneath. When that line was abandoned, Water
Street (K Street), NW, was extended west through the passageway to
the Washington Canoe Club. The empty lot before the canoe club was
previously occupied by Dempsey's Canoe Livery. The rest of the
Georgetown Branch right-of-way is now occupied by the Capital
Crescent Trail."
"In 1904, the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad constructed
a superstructure that extended outward from the upstream side of
the bridge's deck. The superstructure carried the electric trolleys
of the railroad and its successor, the Washington and Old Dominion
Railway, between Georgetown and Rosslyn, Great Falls, Leesburg and
Bluemont, Virginia, until the bridge closed."
"In 1923, the bridge was closed when the Key Bridge was built
downstream about a hundred feet east. The Aqueduct Bridge's
superstructure and most of the above-water portions of its piers
were removed in 1933. The bases of the piers were retained to
protect the Key Bridge's piers from ice floe damage. In 1962, seven
of the eight remaining pilings from the Aqueduct Bridge were
blasted out to a depth of twelve feet below the waterline after
recreational boaters claimed that they were hazardous."
"The Aqueduct Bridge Washington abutment still survives and is
located west of the Key Bridge. The southern arch underneath the
abutment is used to shelter rowing shells belonging to members of
the Potomac Boat Club. One pier remains and is located in the river
near the Virginia shore. The bridge's Virginia abutment remains in
place beneath and upstream of the Key Bridge."
