Yalesville Underpass
Encyclopedia
The Yalesville Underpass is a 30 degree skew arch
bridge carrying the railroad over Route 150 close to its intersection with Route 71 in Wallingford, Connecticut
. Built in 1838 for the railroad by William MacKenzie, it is reported to be the first underpass in America. The arch was designed to allowed tall hay wagons to pass through but it is not wide enough for modern two-way traffic, the one-way traffic being controlled by a pair of lights. The stone structure is also one of the oldest stone railroad bridges in America.
Skew arch
A skew arch is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its plan view being a parallelogram, rather than the rectangle that is the plan view of...
bridge carrying the railroad over Route 150 close to its intersection with Route 71 in Wallingford, Connecticut
Wallingford, Connecticut
Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 43,026 at the 2000 census.- History :Wallingford was established on October 10, 1667, when the Connecticut General Assembly authorized the "making of a village on the east river" to 38 planters and freemen...
. Built in 1838 for the railroad by William MacKenzie, it is reported to be the first underpass in America. The arch was designed to allowed tall hay wagons to pass through but it is not wide enough for modern two-way traffic, the one-way traffic being controlled by a pair of lights. The stone structure is also one of the oldest stone railroad bridges in America.