Local News

Hojack – Rochester landmark gone

hojack
Sailing out of the Genesee River will look quite different this coming season. Love it, or hate it, the Hojack swing bridge is gone from the harbor at Rochester, NY. Personally, it was quite an imposing structure. I felt the same for the bridge as I did my first car – I loved it, but it really isn’t something I would want sitting in my driveway today.

Despite efforts to save it, a Rochester landmark has been dismantled. The Hojack railroad swing bridge in Charlotte has been sitting idle for years.Built in 1905 by the King Bridge Compamy of Clevelend, the Hojack line swing bridge saw its last train nearly 20 years ago. It’s said to be one of only two like it in the country and now there is just one.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the bridge had to be removed under the Federal Rivers and Harbors Act because it no longer serves a transportation function, even though many people noted that the cement boat The Stephen B. Roman didn’t seem to have a problem navigating around it.

CSX owned the old railroad bridge and is payed for its removal. Efforts to preserve the Hojack bridge spawned the Save the Bridge Project, a plea to transform the steel frame
into a glassed in, world-class, seasonal attraction.

Video of time-laps removal of bridge:

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