page_title: Longfellow Bridge
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Longfellow Bridge / Design
context_page_description: The Longfellow Bridge is a steel rib arch bridge spanning the Charles River to connect Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood with the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The bridge carries Massachusetts Route 3, US Route 3, the MBTA Red Line, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic. The structure was originally known as the Cambridge Bridge, and a predecessor structure was known as the West Boston Bridge; Boston also continued to use "West Boston Bridge" officially for the new bridge. The bridge is also known to locals as the "Salt-and-Pepper Bridge" due to the shape of its central towers.
  The bridge falls under the jurisdiction and oversight of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The bridge carries approximately 28,600 cars and 90,000 mass-transit passengers every weekday. A portion of the elevated Charles/Massachusetts General Hospital rapid transit station lies at the eastern end of the bridge, which connects to Charles Circle.
context_section_description: Longfellow Bridge is a combination railway and highway bridge. It is 105 feet (32 m) wide, 1,767 feet 6 inches (538.73 m) long between abutments, and nearly one-half mile in length, including abutments and approaches. It consists of eleven steel arch spans supported on ten masonry piers and two massive abutments. The arches vary in length from 101 feet 6 inches (30.94 m) at the abutments to 188 feet 6 inches (57.45 m) at the center, and in rise from 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m) to 26 feet 6 inches (8.08 m).  Headroom under the central arch is 26 feet (7.9 m) at mean high water.
  The two large central piers, 188 feet (57 m) long and 53 feet 6 inches (16.31 m) wide, feature four carved, ornamental stone towers. The towers are ornamented with the prows of Viking ships, carved in granite. They refer to a purported voyage by Leif Eriksson up the Charles River circa 1000 AD, promoted at the time by Harvard professor Eben Horsford. The piers are also decorated with the city seals of Boston and Cambridge.
  The Longfellow Bridge provides a panoramic view of the Boston skyline. In commenting on riding the Red Line over the bridge, the Boston Globe praised its "view of Boston’s beauty in a single, satisfying gulp".
caption: The main piers have sculptures that represent the prows of Viking ships.
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