Chain Bridge

The Chain Bridge connects the Palisades neighborhood of Washington, D.C., with Arlington County in Virginia, spanning both the Potomac River and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The eighth bridge at this historic site, it takes its name from an earlier chain bridge. Opened in 1937, the structure is a steel continuous girder bridge that rests on the old stone piers dating from 1852. At more than 400 meters (about 1,300 feet) long and roughly 14 meters (about 46 feet) wide, it carries three lanes of traffic and a sidewalk. Despite its height above the river, the threat of flooding remains real, as the 1972 flood showed, when the water rose almost to the girders.

The history of the site is shaped by the difficulty of crossing the wide river. The first bridge was built in 1797 as a wooden truss arch bridge, but several of its successors fell victim to floods after only a short time. One of the chain bridges even served as an escape route in 1814 during the British capture of Washington, when important documents such as the Declaration of Independence were saved. Later structures, including one that was strategically important during the Civil War, also had to be replaced because they could not withstand the forces of nature.

Today the Chain Bridge is a fixture of the region's infrastructure. After a renovation in the 1980s, in which the deck girder was replaced with a lighter slab, it carries daily traffic. Visitors can use the bridge not only as a thoroughfare but also to get a sense of the site's historical significance, as people have been trying to cross the Potomac safely here since the end of the 18th century. The combination of modern steel construction and historic stone piers makes the bridge an impressive testament to engineering history.