Photographs of the Bridges
Bridges of Binghamton, New York
Binghamton, New York, is located on the north bank of the Susquehanna River, at the confluence where the Susquehanna is met by the Chenango River. The Chenango River was developed into the Chenango Canal, a 90-mile long lateral extension of New York’s Erie Canal system, in 1834. The Erie Canal served as the critical shipping link between the Great Lakes and New York City, and the Chenango Canal connected the Susquehanna, and therefore the commercial products of central Pennsylvania, into this network. Binghamton’s position at the southern terminus of the Chenango Canal made it an important inland port in the mid-nineteenth century, and this has resulted in several nice, historic walkable bridges.
The most prominent of these is the South Washington Street Bridge, crossing the Susquehanna on the southern edge of downtown. South Washington Street Bridge was closed to traffic in 1969, but has been preserved as the focus of a small city park, with numerous military-related dedications, on the south side of downtown Binghamton. The original cement road surface, complete with lane markings, is still present in the middle of the bridge. The railings are lovely interwoven metal bars, with flower medallions at the cross-pieces, all painted the same light green as the superstructure. Each end of the lenticular truss is topped with an ornate cast iron plaque with the date of 1886, large letters spelling out “The Berlin Iron Bridge Co., East Berlin, Conn.”, and names of the commissioners and engineers responsible for the construction of the bridge.
Confluence Park is also the landing for the eastern end of Riverside Bridge, also known as Memorial Bridge, which carries Riverside Drive across the Chenango River. Built in 1925, the bridge is dedicated as a memorial to local veterans of World War I, as documented on several bronze plaques at each end. Riverside Bridge is composed of five cement arches with formed geometric patterns on the spandrel for decoration. The balustrades are also very thick cement, formed as a series of small arches and topped with a thick steel rail and decorative black iron lampposts.
A walkway along the eastern bank of the Chenango River north of Riverside Drive leads to the East Clinton Street Bridge, another lovely concrete arch bridge dating from 1936. The East Clinton Street Bridge is made of three open-spandrel cement arches with the sides formed with decorative geometric Art Deco designs. The piers extend upwards, on both sides of the bridge, into small cement towers, about 20 feet high, and topped by white steel and glass lamps.
East of the South Washington Street Bridge on the Susquehanna, on the opposite side of an uninteresting modern highway bridge, is the Exchange Street Bridge, a medium-gauge steel through-truss bridge. This bridge has sidewalks on both sides, on the outside of the truss structure. The bridge looks like a great many other old through-truss bridges, but has a few nice decorations on it. The date plaque on the truss over the roadway, reads “Owego Bridge Co., Owego, NY”, with a date of 1902, and the top of the truss is lined with a decorative steel lattice. The steel plates of the portal braces at the corners of the truss have had the words “Owego NY” and initials “OBC” cut-out of the plate in fancy script.
Unfortunately, I had space limitations in my book, Bridgespotting: A Guide to Bridges that Connect People, Places, and Times, and the Binghamton bridges ended up on the cutting room floor. However, they are definitely worth a visit, if driving through Binghamton on the Interstate.
