Central Street Bridge
Worcester, Mass.
Centerbrook Architects and Planners

Centerbrook Architects Conquers gridlock and captures the spirit of invention in a new railroad bridge

© Jeff Goldberg/Esto

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

By Nick Olsen

Home to Robert Goddard, the inventor of the rocket, the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, also lays claim to breakthroughs as diverse as the Valentine’s Day card and the birth control pill. When faced with a problematic railroad crossing on Central Street, its main vehicular artery, the city sought a solution that would reflect its inventive character.

In recent years, new developments along Central Street, including a civic center and hospital, have brought additional congestion to this busy main corridor, which connects to Interstate 290. The prior on-grade railroad crossing created a traffic nightmare, effectively blocking access to the city with each passing train. Following a master plan by Alex Krieger of Chan Krieger & Associates, Cambridge, Massachusetts, city officials decided to lower the road, raise the tracks, and erect a railroad overpass. This was to be no ordinary work of infrastructure, however. On Krieger’s recommendation, local officials enlisted Centerbrook to stretch a limited budget and make a statement about Wooster’s rich past and promising future.

Centerbrook architects William H. Grover and James C. Childress designed more than eighty proposals, some appeasingly traditional in style, and each reflecting Worcester’s many inventions. Ultimately, a modern expression of a historic novelty prevailed: The winning bridge design takes its inspiration from the calliope, a steam pipe organ developed in the city in the 1850s. The bridge, which spans 178 feet,
features broad arches of gleaming stainless steel with radial supports accompanying the traditional safety railings. The steel matrix imitates the alignment of the calliope’s pipes and creates a graduated screen for the city that contrasts sharply with the brick-clad reinforced concrete piers and the abutments emerging from surrounding earth berms. The steel railings feature three different levels of polish to vary their reflective sheen. At night, a kaleidoscopic play of stoplights and signs against the metal heightens the effect, hinting at the energy of the city ahead.

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Formal name of Project:
Central Street Bridge

Location:
Worcester, Mass.

Measurements:
Span: 178 feet

Total construction cost:
$4.5 Million

Client:
Worcester Redevelopment Authority and the City of Worcester, Mass.

Architect:
Centerbrook Architects and Planners
67 Main Street
Post Office Box 955
Centerbrook, CT 06409
Phone: 860-767-0175
Fax: 860-767-8719
www.centerbrook.com