The Brightman Street Bridge.

The Brightman Street Bridge is a 922-foot 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. The Taunton River, historically also called the Taunton Great River, is a river in southern Massachusetts in the United States. ...   Somerset is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. ... Settled: 1656 â€“ Incorporated: 1803 Zip Code(s): 02720-02724 â€“ Area Code(s): 508 / 774 Official website: http://www. ... Official language(s) English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Area  Ranked 44th  - Total 10,555 sq mi (27,360 km²)  - Width 183 miles (295 km)  - Length 113 miles (182 km)  - % water 13. ...

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 now serves as the pathway for Route 6 and Route 138 to cross the river into Fall River. Other than the one-lane Berkley-Dighton Bridge 8 1/2 miles to the north, it is the only non-highway bridge spanning the river between Fall River and Taunton. Along with the Braga Bridge, it is one of the two major crossings of the river. This has led to the bridge having vital importance anytime there is a problem on the Braga; since the northern detour takes approximately twenty miles and the southern detour (over the Mount Hope Bridge and the Sakonnet River Bridge) is over twenty-five miles, it immediately becomes the major path for people coming in and out of the city, and vice versa. U.S. Highway 6 shield in California U.S. Route 6 is a main route of the U.S. Highway system, running east from U.S. Route 395 in Bishop, California to Route 6A in Provincetown, Massachusetts (part of Cape Cod) for a total of 3205 miles (5158 km). ... The Berkley-Dighton Bridge is a paved one-lane swing-span bridge connecting the towns of Berkley and Dighton, Massachusetts. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Mount Hope Bridge connects Portsmouth, Rhode Island to its neighbor, Bristol, which lies across the Sakonnet River. ...

Replacement and Controversy

With the age of the bridge becoming a problem, as well as the rising costs of necessary upkeep and maintenance, talk began circulating about replacing the bridge as early as the late 1970s and early 1980s. Starting in 1983^[1], plans were put in place to replace the bridge with a new, higher and wider span 1,500 feet upriver, which would span from a proposed flyover intersection with Route 79 on the Fall River side, to a new access road through the former site of Slade's Ferry Park in Somerset. A new "official" name has never been given to this bridge, although there has been a minor campaign by the area's Portuguese community to name the bridge for Miguel Corte-Real, the Portuguese explorer who many belive explored the area in the early 16th century (as evidenced by one of the theories explaining the markings on Dighton Rock upstream). ^[2] Miguel Corte-Real (c. ... The Dighton Rock is a 40 ton boulder, originally located in the riverbed of the Taunton River at Berkeley, Massachusetts (formerly part of the township of Dighton). ...

Plans were put on hold in 1989, when the Coast Guard protested the size of the opening of the bridge. Once details were worked out, work began in the late 1990s, but again with delays. This was due to money being taken away from the project for the well-over budget Big Dig project in Boston.^[3] Again the work was delayed until costs could be met. A third problem arose a few years later, when inspectors questioned the quality of the cement used in the main pilings for the bridge. This caused yet more delays as inspections and tests were needed on the piers. Big Dig is the unofficial name of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T), a megaproject to reroute the Central Artery (Interstate 93), the chief controlled-access highway through the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, into a 3. ...

The most recent controversy involving the bridge does not involve the bridge work at all, but rather involves the proposed building of a LNG terminal at Weaver's Cove, just to the north of the new bridge. This project has met with fierce opposition from the surrounding community, as well as federal, state and local leaders, including Representatives James McGovern and Barney Frank, as well as Senators John Kerry and Edward Kennedy, all of whom have made appearances at various opposition rallies. The problems are twofold: Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas that has been processed to remove impurities and heavy hydrocarbons and then condensed into a liquid at atmospheric pressure by cooling it to approximately -163 degrees Celsius. ... There have been a number of people known as James McGovern: James P McGovern, or Jim McGovern, current member of the United States House of Representatives James McGovern, current United Kingdom Member of Parliament James McGovern, former American boxer This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists... Barney Frank (born March 31, 1940) is an American politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. ... This article is 79 kilobytes or more in size. ... Edward Kennedy Edward Moore Ted Kennedy, (born February 22, 1932, in Brookline, Massachusetts) is a Democratic U.S. senator from Massachusetts. ...

• For one, there is the belief that LNG tankers could be targets of terrorism, as an explosion of a tanker, whether on route or in port, could cause catastrophic damage and loss of life in the community.
• There is also the concern about LNG transportation requirements, which would involve the closing of not just the new bridge, but also the Braga Bridge, for several hours at a time, thus cutting off vital trade routes in the area.

All of this has led to a rather ironic campaign to keep the original bridge standing after the new one is completed.^[4] So far the campaign has been successful in keeping the old bridge standing, but whether or not it stops the LNG terminal from being built is still undetermined.

References

1. ^ "New bridge on schedule despite budget cutbacks," Herald News, 18 April 2002
2. ^ The Miguel Corte-Real Bridge webpage
3. ^ Ibid. 1
4. ^ "Obstacles keep hope alive for foes of Fall River LNG facility," Boston Globe, 22 Aug 2005.