Strauss Trunnion Bascule Bridge

There’s actually a pair of drawbridges crossing this small canal in Cambridge, MA. The oldest, also known as the First Street Bridge, carries Westbound traffic from Land Boulevard towards the Longfellow Bridge and onto Memorial Drive and was built in 1924 by the Boston Bridge Works construction company. A parallel bridge, built in 1954, carries Eastbound traffic from Memorial Drive onto Land Boulevard.
Years ago, the canal was much longer and extended quite a ways into Cambridge where it served as an open sewer for the many toxic wastes generated in the surrounding industrial neighborhood. Today the canal only goes about a block and is much less polluted. Fuel barges no longer need to sail up the canal to service the adjacent power plant, so neither of the drawbridges open any more. Yet, there still seems to be someone stationed in the bridge tender’s house; for what purpose, I have no idea.
While vehicular traffic is well accommodated by this bridge, it is not a very pedestrian friendly place. Even though there is a marked crosswalk, It is particularly difficult and dangerous to cross Land Boulevard because traffic coming Eastbound travels at a high speed and has an obstructed view of potential pedestrians trying to cross. The pathways around the bridge are confusing and I’ve encountered more than one person needing help to find the steps leading to the Longfellow Bridge to walk to Boston.
Like all of the bridges under the auspices of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (formerly called the Metropolitan District Commission) the bridge suffers from poor maintenance by a patronage-​laden agency that cares little about preserving the infrastructure entrusted to it’s care. Like all the others, this bridge ought to be under the control of a unified Massachusetts Highway department instead of a wasteful separate agency.