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North Main Street Bridge,
Bridge No. 3651
• North Main Street over Trout Brook
• West Hartford
• Concrete arch
• Length: 3 spans, 78' overall, 15' maximum span length
• Built in 1901
• A. B. Alderson, engineer
This small, plainly detailed bridge has the distinction of being the oldest remaining concrete bridge
in Connecticut. It was one of a series of bridges, all concrete, built by the town of West Hartford
under the direction of local engineer Algernon B. Alderson. Concrete construction was still in its
infancy when this bridge was built. There was yet no agreement on the proper mixture of cement,
sand, and stone, and engineers argued over the type of reinforcing steel and the best way to lay
the reinforcement to make the strongest bridge.
This bridge contributed to the advancement of concrete bridge construction in Connecticut when it
appeared in the Proceedings of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers as an example of a
high-strength concrete mixture. An engineer for the contractor, Hartford Paving and Construction
Company, noted that it had the longest, shallowest arches that his company had ever built without
using reinforcing steel. Although a modest structure, the bridge deserves respect as a pioneer of
what would become the 20th century's most important bridge material.
