The Bridges of the Western Erie ❤️

We are working our way back East on the “Easy” Canal and enjoying the relaxing sights alone.  We went back to Medina, Spencerport, Fairport, and Newark.

In the Western section of the Erie canal we had several incidences where the roaming bridge operator had to drive between two of these incredibly beautiful lift bridges.  Video from New York Canals webpage is worth a watch.

We had many chats with local folks walking past the boat and learned about the history of these special bridges.  At the turn of the century the canal barges and pedestrian traffic were much more common traffic than a horse and buggy so the bridge would be primarily up and only lowered when needed.  Over time that practice switched, and now boats request a bridge opening and the cars wait for the boats to pass.  But the pedestrians can still walk across the canal over the bridge once it’s raised.

We heard stories about “Back in the day” when the whistle blew for the gates closing over the road the local kids would run to “ride the bridge” up.  Not sure when they stopped that practice but I asked the bridge operator about it and she remembers doing it, but couldn’t remember when they stopped allowing that fun practice..

Most of the lift bridges look like the Spencerport bridge.

The Fairport Bridge a very unique bridge design and we also got to walk across it in both the up and down positions!