The Lehigh Valley Railroad Bridge

The Lehigh Valley Railroad, the last major railroad built in New York State, carried coal from the mines of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley and also ran passenger trains, with its Rochester branch line opening in 1892. At first the tracks here crossed a flat farmer's field at ground level, with no canal or canal trail present. In the early 20th century, construction of the Barge Canal required the new waterway to pass beneath the busy railroad on its way to the Genesee River, so a bridge was built to carry the tracks overhead. When the I-390 Expressway was built in the 1970's, it also passed under the tracks. By then, the line appears to have had only one user, the University of Rochester, which received coal deliveries for its heating plant. Soon afterward the tracks were removed, and by 2004 the rail bed had been converted into the Lehigh Valley Trail for hikers and bikers crossing the expressway, the canal, and the Canal Trail.

Brighton, New York · United States