Summer Street Bridge

{{Infobox bridge

| name = Summer Street Bridge

| image = Summer Street Bridge aerial view, May 2016.JPG

| caption = Aerial view of Summer Street Bridge

| coordinates = {{coord|42.35109|N|71.05194|W}}

| carries = Summer Street

| crosses = Fort Point Channel

| locale = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

| official_name = Summer Street Retractile Bridge

| other_name =

| named_for =

| design = Retractable bridge

| material = Steel, masonry

| length = {{convert|507|ft|m}}

| mainspan = {{convert|132|ft|m}} (draws)

| width = {{convert|44|ft|m}} (each deck)

| height = {{convert|25|ft|m}} (above deck)

| owner = City of Boston

| maint = Boston Public Works

| built = 1898–1899

| builder = Berlin Iron Bridge Co. (draws), A. & P. Roberts Company (fixed spans)

| number_spans = 5

| lanes = 4

| num_track = 2 (discontinued in 1950s, no longer extant)

| references = {{HAER |survey=MA-41 |id=ma1236 |title=Congress Street Bascule Bridge}}

}}

The Summer Street Bridge is a retractile bridge built in 1899 in Boston, Massachusetts, over the Fort Point Channel. It still stands, but has served as a fixed bridge since 1959. This was the site of the Summer Street Bridge disaster in 1916.

History

The structure was built to replace a swing bridge dating to 1855. Construction contracts were awarded in October 1897, and the first draw was operational in August 1899. The bridge consists of two parallel decks, each {{convert|44|ft|m}} wide, which when operational, had {{convert|132|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} center sections that were retracted independently and diagonally to allow water traffic to pass.{{efn|This bridge is oriented northwest–southeast, with the northwest-bound lanes of traffic retracting diagonally to the north, and the southeast-bound lanes retracting diagonally to the west.}}

The bridge was the site of the Summer Street Bridge disaster on the night of November 7, 1916, in which 46 passengers were killed when a streetcar fell into Fort Point Channel.{{Cite news |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/10/29/trolleydisaster/c451CX1qx9SpPo5tJAupFP/story.html |title=The tragedy that Boston forgot |last=Moskowitz |first=Eric |website=BostonGlobe.com |access-date=2019-03-26}} The bridge remained in use, although its streetcar traffic was discontinued in the 1950s and the spans were fixed in place in 1959. Originally, the structure had a bridge tender's house, which was removed in 1965.

When documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in 1984, the Summer Street Bridge was one of only four retractile drawbridges left in the United States, two of which were on Summer Street in Boston.{{Cite web |url=https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=massachusetts/summer/ |title=Summer Street Bridge |website=historicbridges.org |access-date=2019-03-26}} The other bridge on Summer Street, crossing Reserved Channel, was replaced in 2003.{{Cite web |website=bridgehunter.com |url=https://www.bridgehunter.com/bridge/51788 |title=Summer Street over Reserved Channel Bridge |access-date=March 26, 2025}}