PROVIDENCE – The abandoned steel railway drawbridge, left in the upright position since the 1970s, is now the subject of a city effort at redesign and reuse.
The city has issued an open call for design ideas that would provide for an imaginative reuse of the bridge, built in 1908 by a Chicago company and known as the Crook Point Bascule Bridge.
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The bridge connected the Fox Point neighborhood of Providence to East Providence over the Seekonk River and once was part of a rail line that traveled to the Providence terminal. It carried passengers through the 1930s before becoming primarily a conduit for freight. It has been fixed in the upright position since the mid-1970s.
Preservationists want it to be saved as a symbol of Providence and its industrial past. Owned by the R.I. Public Rail Corp., the bridge has been proposed for demolition as a safety hazard by the R.I. Department of Transportation.
The competition to come up with a new plan for it is sponsored by the Providence Redevelopment Agency.
The Round One submissions are due on Thursday, Nov. 29.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at MacDonald@PBN.com.
