Middle Bridge

Middle Bridge, also called the Centre Bridge, carries River Street across the Concord River west of Billerica Center. It took its name from its place between the Corner Bridge downstream and Hill's Bridge upstream, and River Street was long described in deeds as "the highway leading to Middle Bridge." The first meetinghouse of the First Baptist Church, built in 1830-1831, stood "on the east side of Concord River, very near the middle bridge."

The town voted to build the bridge on November 16, 1736, and it was built in 1737 "against the bridle way, betwixt Mr. Enoch Kidder and Oliver Whiting Jr.'s lotts." In 1738 the building committee received 95 pounds from the treasurer, perhaps its whole cost. It was a timber bridge on driven piles and was rebuilt or repaired many times: in 1889 the town paid Hill & Ellinwood $800 for "building Middle Bridge," and in 1906 it was replanked with new timbers. By 1915 "the old wooden structure is fast falling away," and in 1916 the highway surveyor wrote that it "is constructed with driven piles, and is beyond repair." It was patched again in 1917 and posted for three tons in 1922. In 1929 the selectmen asked the State and County for help, reporting that "the supporting timbers are rotted beyond repair," and estimated $38,000 for a reinforced concrete bridge.

In 1933 "a new bridge spanning the Concord River was completed, replacing the old bridge which had been condemned," the superintendent of public works reported; "the new structure was designed by the State Board of Engineers." It used 3,199 feet of creosoted piling and 23 tons of reinforcing steel. The bridge had thirteen continuous spans of reinforced concrete slab on timber pile bents, 127 feet long, set on the older rubble abutments, raised and widened in concrete. In 1993 the state's historic bridge specialist called it an early example of its type but "considerably deteriorated," in "a pleasant stretch of the Concord River."

The April 1968 flood sent ice against all three Concord River bridges, and the River Street bridge was closed for three months while more than $15,000 of partial repairs were made. It was closed again in 1992 "for structural deficiencies" until emergency repairs made it safe. In 1999 the town voted easements for its reconstruction, and the Massachusetts Highway Department replaced it under a contract begun in September 2001 (contract value $1,982,235). The work was completed in 2003. The present bridge, of continuous steel beams about 150 feet long, is owned by the town.

References

1. MACRIS BIL.926
2. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): the Centre bridge voted 1736 and built 1737
3. Annual Report 1889: Hill & Ellinwood paid for building Middle Bridge
4. Annual Report 1915: the old wooden Middle Bridge "fast falling away"
5. Annual Report 1916: the River Street bridge "constructed with driven piles, and is beyond repair"
6. Annual Report 1933: the new River Street bridge completed, designed by the State Board of Engineers
7. Annual Report 1933: materials of the new River Street bridge
8. Annual Report 1968: the April flood closes the River Street bridge for three months
9. Annual Report 2003: construction of the River Street Bridge completed under MassHighway
10. MassDOT project 601444: Bridge Replacement, B-12-002, River Street over Concord River (2001-2003)