The Hawk Street Viaduct was a bridge spanning the Sheridan Hollow

Sheridan Hollow, Albany, New York

Sheridan Hollow is a neighborhood in Albany, New York located in a ravine north of Downtown Albany. Capitol Hill to the south and Arbor Hill to the north flank the ravine. Often the neighborhood is overlooked by city residents, and outsiders who work in the neighborhood often don't recognize the...

 neighborhood in Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Built in 1890, it was demolished in 1970 after decades of neglect which caused it to be limited to pedestrian traffic only in 1968. It was the first cantilever arch bridge in the world.

History

Built in 1890 the bridge was the first to span Sheridan Hollow, at 1000 feet (304.8 m) it was considered a great experiment at the time.

Structure

The Hawk Street Viaduct was considered a cantilever arch due to each end of the arch structure

Arch bridge

An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side...

 having a cantilever arm

Cantilever bridge

A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers, structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic use trusses built from...

that spanned the distance to the heights of the ravine rim to the north and south.