The Aqueduct Bridge, also called the Alexandria Aqueduct, was a bridge that carried traffic between the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. and Rosslyn, Virginia. The bridge existed from 1843 to 1923.
It was built to transport cargo-carrying boats on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Georgetown across the Potomac River to the Alexandria Canal. The same eight piers supported two bridges: a wooden canal bridge and an iron truss bridge carrying a roadway and an electric trolley line. The canal was later topped with a wooden roadway bridge. The bridge was closed in 1923 after the construction of the nearby Key Bridge, and demolished in 1933.
One arched stone abutment on the Georgetown (north) end survives; it is overseen by the National Park Service as an historic site.
History
First Canal Bridge
In 1830, merchants from Alexandria, Virginia, which was still part of the District of Columbia at the time, proposed linking their city to Georgetown to capitalize on the new Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.Gillette, p. 18. Congress granted a charter to the Alexandria Canal Company in 1830,Hurst, p. 4-5. and construction soon began on the Aqueduct Bridge that would carry canal boats across the Potomac River and downriver on the south side without unloading in Georgetown.
The bridge was designed by Major William Turnbull.Kapsch, p. 136. It was originally designed to be a stone bridge with 9 arches, but due to limited funding only the piers and abutments were built of stone and it was spanned by a wooden truss bridge. Construction of the bridge and Alexandria Canal began in 1833, and both were completed in 1843. To withstand Potomac ice floes, the piers were made of gneiss, with icebreakers made of granite."Appendix B B B - Bridges at Washington, D.C.", p. 3641. Accessed 2012-12-29. The water-filled bridge was a weatherproofed-timber, queen-post truss (elsewhere described as a Burr Truss) construction.Reed, p. 144. The bridge was wide across the top. It had eight piers, each set on riverbottom bedrock and wide at the top. The third and sixth piers were wide at the top. Each pier was designed so that its top was above the mean high water level. A narrow carriageway ran alongside the bridge. The
During the American Civil War, the canal was drained to make a roadway for military troops.
In 1866, the Alexandria Canal Company leased the bridge for 99 years to three local businessmen. It reopened for a few months in 1867, but the existing wooden superstructure had so badly decayed that it was torn down and replaced with Howe trusses.
Second Canal Bridge The new canal bridge opened on May 30, 1868 and soon after it did they began to design and have authorized the construction of a bridge over the canal, on the same piers, that could hold a wagonway and a railroad line."Appendix B B B - Bridges at Washington, D.C.", p. 3641. Accessed 2012-12-29. They received permission for the addition in late September and started work by mid-November 1868. A wooden floor was placed atop the Howe trusses, and wooden trestles built on both ends to provide approaches to the bridge. The toll bridge over the canal opened on January 12, 1869.
To support this construction, the lessees were authorized to charge a toll. Wooden arches were later added to strengthen the Howe trusses. The tolls from the addition inhibited trade between Georgetown and Virginia, thus benefiting Alexandrian businessmen who retained Virginian trade.
The Free Bridge
In 1882, legislation was introduced in Congress to purchase the Aqueduct Bridge and open it to the public."The Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. December 7, 1882. That bill did not pass, but a new one introduced in January 1884 did."Free Bridge Across the Potomac." Washington Post. January 10, 1884. At issue, however, was who would bear the cost of buying the bridge. Congress initially proposed that the District of Columbia shoulder the entire cost, but the city did not have the funds."The Proposed Free Bridge." Washington Post. February 19, 1884. Citizens in Virginia demanded that Congress pick up the cost, arguing this was an interstate bridge and therefore a national concern."Proposed Free Bridge." Washington Post. March 17, 1884. Congress passed the legislation, and appropriated $240,000 to purchase the bridge. The Alexandria Canal Company sold the bridge's piers for $85,000 and its deck for $50,000, and the deed was conveyed to the federal government on August 15, 1884."The Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. August 16, 1884. Almost immediately, a dispute broke out among the canal company's shareholders as to the distribution of the funds, which suspended the transfer of deed."The Bridge Dispute." Washington Post. October 13, 1886.
The safety of the bridge was quickly called into question. In December 1885, just a year after the bridge was purchased, the United States Army Corps of Engineers conducted a study that found the wooden bridge so unsafe that it should be removed."Two District Bridges." Washington Post. December 24, 1885. Again, cost considerations came to the fore. Legislation was introduced in Congress in May 1886 to have a new bridge built, with the D.C. government picking up half the cost."The Free Bridge Conference." Washington Post. May 28, 1886; "Our Free Bridge." Washington Post. May 29, 1886. A D.C. engineering study of the bridge was conducted in September 1886 to again determine the bridge's safety. This report for the bridge so unsafe that it recommended immediate closure."The Aqueduct Bridge Unsafe." Washington Post. September 26, 1886. The District government did so on October 5, 1886."The Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. October 4, 1886; "The Bridge to Be Closed." Washington Post. October 5, 1886.
On October 20, 1886, the canal company shareholders finally decided how to divide up the proceeds from their sale of the bridge. The District government then asked the Secretary of War (who supervised the Corps of Engineers) whether the federal government intended to repair the bridge or build a new one."The Bridge Question." Washington Post. October 21, 1886. But issues concerning the sale still plagued the bridge. Although a new deed of transfer was prepared in mid-November 1886,"The Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. November 13, 1886. the Alexandria Canal Company sued the federal government within weeks, seeking to receive the full sale price all at once rather than in installments."The Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. December 22, 1886. Another Corps engineering report on the bridge was made in January 1887."The Aqueduct Bridge Examination." Washington Post. January 7, 1887. With the bridge again found to be unsafe to open, the federal government sued the canal company. The deed of sale, the government said, required the company to maintain a bridge that is open to travel for 20 years. This condition had not been met, and the government sought $84,500 in reimbursements to cover construction of a new deck."The Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. January 8, 1887.
Meanwhile, the Corps of Engineers reported in January 1887 that a new bridge could be constructed for $105,000 (the sum of money left over from the 1884 appropriation)."A New Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. January 16, 1887. With this money already in hand, no new legislation was needed. Bids for construction of the new bridge were received in March 1887,"Bids for Important Work." Washington Post. March 8, 1887. and a contract awarded to the Mt. Vernon Bridge Company."The Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. March 24, 1887. Work began in August."Work on the Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. August 13, 1887. But extensive delays plagued the bridge."The New Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. November 28, 1887. One reason for the delay was the need to obtain a new right-of-way from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which the bridge would cross."The New Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. December 8, 1887. Suit for the right-of-way was filed in December 1887, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal agreed to provide it (pending an appraisal) in January 1888."The Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. January 6, 1888. Meanwhile, the contractor proved inefficient, delaying the opening until at least January 1888."Work on the Bridges." Washington Post. January 11, 1888. A month later, about of substructure had been laid, and of superstructure."Work on the Bridges." Washington Post. February 10, 1888. The bridge was informally opened in early March and formally opened, with an extensive parade and celebration, on April 11, 1888.
In 1889, the northern arch in the Washington abutment was enlarged so that the Georgetown Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad could pass underneath. One of the piers was replaced in 1900."At Work in River Bed." Washington Post. September 3, 1900.
In 1906, the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad (GF&OD) began to operate a single-track electric trolley line on a cantilever structure that the railroad had constructed on the bridge's west (upstream) side.Harwood, pp. 37-38. In 1912, the GF&OD became the Great Falls Division of the new Washington and Old Dominion Railway.Harwood, pp. 42-49
Building Key Bridge Proposals were made to replace Aqueduct Bridge as early as 1901."Plans for New Bridge." Washington Post. February 7, 1901. But these proposals were delayed when the McMillan Plan was issued in 1902."Aqueduct Bill Report." Washington Post. March 8, 1902. Congress approved the construction of a wooden superstructure that extended outward from the upstream side of the bridge's deck to carry electric trolleys between Georgetown and Rosslyn in 1902."Bridge Plans Held Up." Washington Post. February 27, 1903; "Tracks on Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. March 1, 1903. Construction began in May 1903, and involved reconstruction of one of the bridge's piers."Contract for Bridge Pier." Washington Post. April 12, 1903; "Delay on Aqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. July 17, 1904. Built by the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad, trolleys of the railroad and its successor, the Washington and Old Dominion Railway, traversed the bridge until its closure in 1923.
Ice jams were a routine hazard on the Potomac River into the 1960s. Although the jams often stuck against the bridge, it weathered them well until 1908. Ice damaged some of the bridge's piers, requiring reconstruction of Pier No. 1 in the summer."Pier Nearing Completion." Washington Post. June 17, 1908. Engineers discovered that many of the bridge's piers had been undermined by water, and rush repairs were made."Holes in Bridge Piers." Washington Post. October 15, 1908; "Bridge in Good Condition." Washington Post. October 16, 1908. But the aging structure continued to suffer damage, and by September 1912 the bridge was leaning dangerously to the west."Points to Adqueduct Bridge." Washington Post. September 15, 1912. Fears that the bridge would give way during the spring ice jams worsened. The bridge piers were extensively repaired again in 1913.
The Carlin bill