The name Seven Bridges Road is the source of some confusion. As you drive through the parkway, starting from Superior Street, and count the bridges you cross, you'll come up with a total of eight.

 

There's a solution to this mystery, however. Upon closer inspection you'll see that the bridge nearest Superior Street, the first one you encounter at the north end of Occidental Boulevard, is a poor facsimile of the original nine.

The bridge is similar in that it is a stone-arch type with rubble stone masonry, but it displays none of the finer details such as piers, copings, or cap rocks that set the other nine apart. It was built in 1928, replacing an earlier rustic bridge which connected Occidental and Oriental Boulevards, the two carriage paths which ran on either side of Lester Park before the turn of the century.

2012 ADDENDUM All the bridges were restored during a restoration project that ran from 1996 to 2007, and all eight bridges along the route - including the Lester Park bridge built in 1928 - were restored in the same manner, so they now all look essentially the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BACK

 

Questions or comments to: Mark Ryan

Web Page © 1999 Mark Ryan. All photographs by Mark Ryan. © 1998, 1999 Mark Ryan.