Lechmere Viaduct draw span

[R36 Combine Coach]

The USCG drawbridge operating schedule for the Charles River has the MBTA East Cambridge (Lechmere) Viaduct as inactive, but the owner is under obligation to maintain the movable span in operable condition. I noticed the Lechmere span no longer appears to have an opening or joint for raising. Is the span still a functional draw, as apparently so according to USCG?

[MBTA3247]

Nope. There's welded rail clear across the bridge, and several large pipes just below the ties on the downstream side. I don't think any of the draw mechanism exists anymore; it looks like an ordinary plate girder bridge in my photos.

[deathtopumpkins]

Overhead wire is also continuous across the bridge.

[boatsmate]

seems to me that someone has hidden the truth from the Coast Guard. as for passing under the bridge, if it can fit under the Washington st bridge then it will fit under the trolley bridge. If it won't fit under the Washington st bridge then it can not go up the Charles River from the harbor.

[doublebell]

Not Coast Guard interest at that point. They end at the dam.
John, the guy in the blue car with the wing on back

[atlantis]

At one time, of course, the North Washington Street bridge was a rotating bridge. It was closed for good many years ago, perhaps even when the Charlestown elevated Orange Line still existed, although I was just a kid when the El was discontinued so my memory of the operational status of that bridge is vague. That was also before the new Charles River dam was built with its overhead enclosed catwalk which is the same height as the former drawbridges.