Help Save Rochester's Hojack Swing Bridge

Other bridges have been saved

The successful effort to save The Bridge of Lions can be a model for us. Both the Army Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard, as well as others, encouraged demolition but community support saved the bridge. Look at the menu on the left side - History, Letters & Documents, Comments and Links. There is a lot of useful material there.

What you can do

Write letters to the editor with a copy to the mayor. And leave the request that people help with petitions.

You can also collect signatures on our petition. Click here and print out the attached petition and collect signatures from everyone who shares our view that the bridge is important and should be saved. When a page is full make a copy that you should save and send the original to:

Richard Margolis
The Bridge Project
250 North Goodman Street
Rochester, NY 14607

Important Documents

• SIA Resolution Supports Preservation July 12, 2001
• Coast Guard Letter to CSX March 29, 2002
• NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (SHPO) Response to the Coast Guard Letter, April 4, 2002
• Hojack Swing Bridge D & C Newspaper Article, April 23, 2002
• National Park Service - HAER - Letter to Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) April 24, 2002
• Letter to Councilman Stevenson April 29, 2002
• The Greater Rochester Harbor Association April 29, 2002

Imagine This

The Hojack Swing Bridge will be a welcoming landmark as visitors enter Rochester from the North. Imagine it with lights and banners, the sound of music, and people on the observation deck on top sipping something cold, waving as the Ferry from Toronto, or the boats from other ports, pass by.

"Imagining our bridge lit up at night"

The "Flats" area in Cleveland, once home to abandoned steel mills, is now revitalized. Restaurants, new professional offices, and night life make it an exciting place that attracts people year around. The old bridges - lots of them - including a swing bridge like ours, are lit up at night, transforming them into magical sculptures. Imagine our Hojack Swing Bridge with lights that glitter off the water. It would be the centerpiece for the new Port of Rochester, welcoming visitors arriving here by boat and luring visitors to the restaurants and attractions along the Genesee River.

There are lots of possibilities for our Hojack Swing Bridge, and this is just one of them. It would be foolish to demolish it before we explored those possibilities, and then regret our decision. Do you remember the Bragdon Train Station that stood empty and was demolished about 25 years ago. Now we are talking about building anew one. Lets not repeat that mistake.

More Information

Read stories about Bridges

Click Here
for more information about The Bridge Project
and to Submit your Stories About Bridges.

Other Bridge-Related Sites

A Great Web Site I just Discovered
Disappearing Bridges

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Failure
Leffert Lefferts Buck, 19th Century Bridge Builder
The King Bridge Company
Richard Margolis Photography
Bridge Ink
Brooklyn Bridge Web Page
The Girl on the Bridge (La Fille Sur le Pont)

New Links!

Infamous Bridge Disasters
Walkway Over the Hudson
The Bridge Pros
The Story of the Community Bridge
The Taxpayer's Bridge
Patrick O'Rorke Memorial Bridge - Rochester, NY