![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Boston_Bridge_2014.jpg/640px-Boston_Bridge_2014.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Boston Bridge
Bridge in Versailles and Elizabeth Township, Pennsylvania / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Boston Bridge is a structure that crosses the Youghiogheny River between Versailles and Elizabeth Township, Pennsylvania. Its name is derived from the Massachusetts city only indirectly: the bridge is named for the Boston neighborhood of Elizabeth Township, which in turn was named for the New England city.
Boston Bridge | |
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![]() Boston Bridge in September 2014. | |
Coordinates | 40°18′46″N 79°49′42″W |
Carries | ![]() |
Crosses | Youghiogheny River |
Locale | Versailles and Elizabeth Township, Pennsylvania |
Characteristics | |
Design | cantilever bridge |
Total length | 1181 f |
Width | 30 ft |
History | |
Opened | October 13, 1932[1] |
Location | |
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The bridge, which opened on October 13, 1932, carries Pennsylvania Route 48 on two relatively narrow lanes. Many of its features were carefully preserved during a 1989 rehabilitation, down to its original pedestrian railings. Designed entirely for vehicular traffic, the structure changed the future of Elizabeth Township; the lack of streetcar tracks led to the abandonment of a line that served the then-rural community's small industrial settlements, while the newfound ease of access for motorists to the area's manufacturing regions opened up the township to suburbanization.