Linden Street Bridge
The Linden Street Bridge is a Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside bridge over Linden Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. It was built in 1894 for the former Central Massachusetts Railroad by the Pennsylvania Steel Company. It was restored by the Department of Conservation and Recreation for bicycle and pedestrian use in 2025. It is a riveted lattice through truss bridge and is one of only three such bridges left in the state. The bridge is long and wide, with an inside truss height of, and rests on granite abutments. The design of the bridge was based on the Norwottuck [Rail Trail Bridge] over the Connecticut River by the same railroad.
History
The granite bridge abutments for the Linden Street Bridge were constructed in 1881 by the Massachusetts Central Railroad. The original bridge was probably a double-intersection Warren truss. The replacement, riveted lattice through truss bridge was built in 1894 by the Pennsylvania Steel Company of Steelton, PA for the Central Massachusetts Railroad. Today, the Linden Street Bridge is one of only three riveted lattice through truss bridges extant in Massachusetts, along with the Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge over the Connecticut River and the Stony Brook Bridge over the Fitchburg MBTA tracks.By 1971, all passenger service ended on the Central Mass Branch. On December 27, 1976 the Boston and Maine Railroad sold the Central Mass Branch as well as several other lines to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, but retained freight obligations. This section of the Central Mass Branch, and the bridge, have been out of service since 1994 when service to the last customer, a lumber dealer located on Emerson Road, ended.
The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. In 2002, the Wayside Rail Trail Committee held the Golden Spike 2002 event adjacent to the bridge, where statewide advocates unified on the Mass Central Rail Trail name for the greater project between Boston and Northampton. In 2010, the Department of Conservation and Recreation signed a 99-year lease with the MBTA to build the Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside from Waltham to Berlin.
In 2022 and 2023, Waltham received two reimbursement based, $500,000 MassTrails grants intended to fund restoration of the bridge for the MCRT—Wayside, matching $9,300,000 spent on a 2.75 mile trail section built in Waltham. However, Waltham did not proceed with the bridge restoration. In September 2024, DCR announced it would fund restoration of the bridge. Construction began in December 2024 and completed in December 2025.