Great River Bridge West-Elm Street - 1939 - Westfield, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 07.732 W 072° 44.768
18T E 686287 N 4666542
Great River Bridge West-Elm Street is a camelback truss bridge built in 1938-1939. The bridge carries Route 10/202 southbound along Elm Street over the Westfield River in Westfield, MA.
Waymark Code: WM173W6
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 12/03/2022
Views: 2
The Great River Bridge West-Elm Street was completed in 1939 as part of a Federal Emergency Administration Public Works Project. Originally it carried both northbound and southbound traffic over the Westfield River. Need for a second bridge became apparent to resolve the bottleneck created by the single bridge.
The bronze plaque is inscribed:
GREAT RIVER BRIDGE
FEDERAL EMERGENCY ADMINISTRATION
OF PUBLIC WORKS
PROJECT NO. MASS 1467-F
CONSTRUCTED BY THE
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
CITY OF WESTFIELD
AIDED BY
HAMPDEN COUNTY
AND THE
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
DEPARTMENT OP PUBLIC WORKS
1938 - 1939
MAYOR OF WESTFIELD
RAYMOND H. COWING
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
GLENN B. COWLES
JOHN O. McKEAN
PATRICK J. MAHONY
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
OREN E. PARKS
ENGINEERS
DANIEL O'CONNELL'S SONS, INC.
SUPERSTRUCTURE SUBCONTRACTOR
BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY
In 2007 construction of a a virtually identical bridge, the Great River Bridge East-Union Avenue, was built down river and completed in 2009. Upon completion of the downs river bridge the older bridge was renovated. Repairs were delayed when major deterioration was noticed. The original bridge was re-opened in 2011. Today, the west bridge carries only southbound traffic and the east bridge northbound traffic. Both bridge have a pedestrian walkways on both sides of the bridge.