Lakeshore Road Bridge

There are a couple other bridges that I saw that are similar to this bridge on the Welland Canal, but I only had time to photograph this one, but I did photograph this one extensively. I was lucky enough to arrive as a freighter was approaching the bridge, so i got pictures of a freighter about to pass under it, as well as photos of the bridge in raised position. This bridge is similar in construction to a railroad bridge in Port Huron Michigan. The Lakeshore Road bridge is interesting because it once carried both cars and trains on the same deck. When I first looked at the deck I noticed that they had put little barriers on the deck to shut off a side of the bridge, and it was not until I found old railroad tracks to the east of the bridge that I was able to discover that a railroad once used this bridge as well. They had just shut off that side of the deck because there was no reason for cars to be over there.

Bascule bridges can have counterweights above or below the deck of the bridge. This is an example of a plate girder bascule bridge with the counterweight above the deck. You can see a lot of the mechanics and gears easily as a result. The plate girder is attached to the counterweight by some steel braces, some of which are v-laced or latticed. The guardrails are original, and are the ornate lattice with scrollwork on top style that is common on the Welland Canal but uncommon elsewhere. One unusual thing about this bridge is that one of the far ends of the plate girder is curved, and the other is square. I am unsure why this is, and even more odd it looked original, it did not appear to be the result of a repair.