Brightman Street Bridge
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Brightman Street Bridge | |
|---|---|
 The disused bridge in October 2020 | |
| Coordinates | 41°43′26.26″N 71°09′20.51″W / 41.7239611°N 71.1556972°W |
| Carries | closed to all traffic |
| Crosses | Taunton River |
| Locale | Somerset to Fall River, Massachusetts |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | two-leaf bascule bridge |
| Total length | 922 ft |
| Longest span | 98 ft[1] |
| Clearance below | 27 ft |
| History | |
| Construction start | 1906 |
| Construction end | 1908 |
| Opened | October 10, 1908 |
| Closed | October 11, 2011[2] |
| Location | |
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The Brightman Street Bridge is a 922-foot (281 m) long, four-lane wide drawbridge spanning the Taunton River between the town of Somerset and the city of Fall River, Massachusetts. It was authorized in 1903 by the state legislature, and building took place between 1906 and 1908, when it opened full-time on October 10, 1908. It was closed to vehicular traffic on October 11, 2011.[2]
At the time of its completion, it was the widest bridge to span the Taunton River, as the Slade's Ferry Bridge, a steel swingspan bridge built in 1875 less than a quarter mile downriver, was barely a two lane bridge. It once served as the pathway for Route 6 and Route 138 to cross the river into Fall River. Now the Veterans Memorial Bridge, just upstream, carries these routes between Somerset and Fall River.
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