LV Genesee River Bridge - photos

The main (river) span of the former LV Genesee River bridge is back in service! It now carries the Lehigh Valley Trail across the river to it’s intersection with the Genesee Valley Greenway in Caledonia.

The 1,300 ft long original bridge/trestle carried the LV main over the PRR's Rochester Branch, the Genesee River and the flats east of the river. All but the river span was cut up in the late 80’s.

This spring construction began on wood deck walkway through the lower level of the span. (The original structure is a top-deck truss – the railroad ran on the TOP of the bridge.) Then earth ramps were built at both ends to bring the trail to the level of the new deck.

Here's the URL to a brief album of photos taken before, during and after construction of the new trail deck:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIn ... 0073501&f=

...FB

WOW!
thats fantastic!!

I bike the greenway fairly often, but didnt happen to make it down that way this summer..I walked across the bridge a few years ago, and this new walkway looks MUCH easier than the way I did it!
thanks for the update Bob, I will have to get down there right away to check it out!
very cool..

Scot

That is a VERY interesting bridge design.

At the risk of sounding stupid, where exactly did the track fit into that structure?

SteelWheels21 wrote:That is a VERY interesting bridge design.

At the risk of sounding stupid, where exactly did the track fit into that structure?

It's an interesting design indeed! The double tracked LV main ran on the TOP of the truss structure you see in the photos. Plate girder top deck trestles at both ends of the main span brought the tracks to the main span. Combined the trestles/bridge was over 1,300 ft long.

Unfortunately the trestles were cut down/scrapped in the mid 1980's. I only wish I had taken photos of 'em before they disappeared. ...FB

Not a dumb question, because it's not readily apparrent. The tracks ran on the top deck of the structure- you can see the abutments that carried the approach structures off to the sides in some of the other photos. Those approach structures were removed in the 1980s sometime.

-otto-

Well I know where I'm going over Thanksgiving vacation, when I return home to Bergen, NY. So much of the LV is gone already, but at least someone kept the bridge in hopes of it being used again. It is great to see that the bridge was revitalized.

WNYRailfan - Bring your hiking shoes or a bike when you visit! There's several other LV bridges worthy of a visit nearby:

Less than 1/2 mile east of the Genesee bridge there's a 2-span, top deck plate truss bridge crossing a seasonal stream, and a couple hundred yards east of that a single span, bottom deck plate truss bridge over the LA&L "main" (formerly the Erie) and a farm lane.

About 1/2 mile east of NY 15A in Rush there's another single span plate truss affair over Honeoye Creek.

And about 1/4 mile west of Plains Rd in Mendon is a 3-track through truss bridge, again over Honeoye Creek. (This one sits near what once was the west throat of the yard at Rochester Junction).

All these bridges have had walkways for the LV Trail built across them in the last couple of years. ...FB

Don't forget in Victor, there is a two track wide bridge tha goes over the old NYC Auburn Road. Sorry I don't know bridge types. but this LVRR bridge looks similar to the Hojack on a much smaller scale. The area is accessible on the Victor trail system.

Brooks

Just wondering, where does the funding come from for construction of the "bridge on the bridge"? Also, where can you start from on the LV trail, and how far does it go? I assume its all quite accessible on a mountain bike / hybrid?

Here's a link:
http://www.monroecounty.gov/org614.asp? ... =&storyID=&
It is quite accessible by a hybrid/mountain bike. It runs about 15 miles, so a bike might be a good idea. I haven't been out there in a couple of years, but if the weather clears up this weekend, I want to check out the rehabilitated bridge over the Genesee. I have hiked most of the LV in Monroe County, including the section west of P&L Junction to Genesee Country Museum, which has annexed part of the R-O-W.
Not to go off topic, but the last time I was out in Bergen, I noticed that the West Shore R-O-W has been graded. I'll have to take my hybrid and check that one out. I remember picking up insulators along the West Shore as a kid in the late '60's after the poles were cut down. All evidence is long gone .
It's also possible to hike the LV branch going NW towards Rochester(from Rochester Junction at Plains Road) and the branch heading south to Honeoye Falls. The Honeoye Falls branch had a fairly large trestle crossing Honeoye Creek south of Sibley Road. There has been talk about rehabilitating the Rochester branch into a rail trail.
In searching for old photos of the LV bridge across the Genesee, I stumpled upon this site with lots of neat photos of the LV at Rochester Junction and downtown Rochester. Here's the link: http://home.att.net/~bhf51/lehigh.htm

CPSD40-2 wrote:Also, where can you start from on the LV trail, and how far does it go? I assume its all quite accessible on a mountain bike / hybrid?

The LV trail extends ~15 miles, from the Genesee River bridge/connection at the Greenway Trail in Caledonia to Victor. The western section the trail can be access from any north-south road that crosses except I-390 and US 15 - these cross the LV on overpasses.

Best access points are at East River Rd, Fishell Rd and US 15A in Rush (the trail conveniently runs thru a bar parking lot here!); also at Plains Rd in Mendon. Last time I ventured east of I-390/Fishell Rd (on foot Dec 03) the trail surface was rough but rideable on an MTB or hybrid. West of Fishell Rd the trail surface is outstanding. ...FB

I've hiked the greenway from Rochester to Avon before. I also have hiked the LV linear trail from E. River Rd to Quaker Meetinghouse Rd. I have walked on the former LV bridge over the NYC Auburn Road. I never have gone west on the LV from east river road because of the trail being severed due to the bridge being unusable. That is my plan, park on e. river and hike west on the LV linear trail.

I should add that if you are interested in walking the trail to see the LV Genesee River bridge, there is a parking area on East River Road in Rush where the LV Trail crosses. That parking area is not shown on the Monroe Country maps, probably because it is new.

I parked at E. River Rd on Saturday and hiked westward about 30 minutes to the LV Genesee River bridge. Very nice job with the bridge and finely crushed gravel has been applied to the right-of-way. This must have cost a good chunk of change! After crossing the bridge to the other side of the river, the trail connects with the Greenway. There's a sign that gives a brief history of the LV and the Pennsy(Wadsworth Junction), plus a photo circa 1905 of an eastbound passenger train crossing the bridge. From what I can tell, it is not possible to continue westward on the LV at this point; I believe it's private property.

After reading this thread when it was originally posted I new that someday I would check it out. Today I did just that.

I parked my car where the PRR/Greenway trail crosses Rt 251. I headed south to the LV trail. Along the way I spotted one rail anchor [don't know what else to call it] and one spike. I was going to spike it back into the ground but I couldn't find anything hammer like. So I put it back the way I found it.

When I arrived at the bridge I read the plaque and that was a nice picture of the LV train crossing the bridge. After that I headed east. I forgot to bring the map that was posted above but really didn't need it. I crossed all the bridges and rode by the The Rush Inn or was it Tavern? I continued east and stopped at Rochester JCT. If anyone is interested there is one rail in the parking lot of Rochester JCT. I tried to determine the time stamp on it but I couldn't find it. It's probably 95% burried in cinders and dirt. If you're standing at the JCT box looking west, walk about 5 feet and then look left. It's right there. The sun was getting close to setting and the tempurature was getting low so I started my trip back to the car.

I actually thought that I traveled about 3/4 of the trail. When I got back to the car and looked at the map I realized I just made it about half way and I was really tired. The stone that they use for the trail creates a lot of drag for the bike. While it's in great shape for the whole lenght that I traveled it was more difficult than riding on asphalt. Better than ballast though!

The ATV guys are operating on it. They haven't torn it up which is good. A couple of small areas but mostly nothing to complain about. The horseback riders are creating more of a problem. POOP! EVERYWHERE! I had to get off my bike at the LV bridge over the river to navigate around it. The sign says stay off the stone path but they aren't observing the rules. I don't know what they're feeding their horses but it's like they have earth moving epuipment installed. Huge piles.

The footprints that the horses are leaving are more evident than the ATV's. The weight per square inch of the horses is greater than the ATV's and are leaving the trail bumpy and not smooth. It's not a real bad thing but if you start to get a lot of horseback riding it's gong to show up quickly.

Over all I enjoyed the ride. I'll probably like it better when it's warmer out. Although if enough snow falls, I'll try a little cross country skiing.

Evenually, I'll be back.