Swing Bridge

Good Morning, have a good weekend

Today I will share a few shots of the Swing Truss Bridge connecting to POpes Island

Something about the bridge from source
The New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge is a swing truss bridge

The bridge is actually one of three bridges crossing the Acushnet River between the two communities. The entire four lane stretch carries U.S. Route 6 between the two communities. A short, 500-foot-long (150 m) span crosses between the mainland of New Bedford just west of McArthur Drive to Fish Island, the smaller western island in the river. From there, after a 0.1-mile (0.16 km) stretch of highway connects the two spans, the main New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge crosses from Fish Island to Pope's Island. This span includes the main span (see below). Once on Pope's Island, another 0.4-mile (0.64 km) stretch of highway connects to the third and longest span, a low, 0.2-mile (0.32 km) trestle bridge between Pope's Island and the town of Fairhaven, with the town line falling on the bridge. The entire stretch is just over 1 mile (1.6 km) between the two shores.

While many maps include all three spans as one "New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge", only the middle span between the two is the actual bridge. This span, which was built between 1897 and 1899, is the one which includes the 283.2-foot-long (86.3 m) swing truss across the main channel into the northern half of the harbor. The entire bridge, approaches included, is approximately 0.2 miles (0.32 km) long, with the swing span being mostly west of the center of the bridge. The bridge still opens on a regular basis, with daily openings to allow the fishing fleet in and out of the inner harbor

I know the bridge opening for boats to pass out and closing for vehicle traffic while it does is frustrating for many who regularly take that route, but personally I always enjoy watching it open and close when I visit Popes Island

Over the last week the bridge has got stuck open for Boats for a few hours or more, which must be so frustrating for those who drive over it often.

This first shot is taken by a small building that is used by the team the opens and closes the bridge, one member goes up on the bridge to the control room, and one stays down at this point to make sure no one goes onto the bridge before they open it.
I know that as I tried once standing on the bridge when I saw the team member climb the ladder upto the control booth, but the second team member called out to me to get off the bridge :)
the morning I took this I was talking to the ground team member, and he said I could come into this spot to get this viewpoint

swing bridge.jpg