Facts 

Overview
Deck truss bridge over Merrimack River on Univrsty Avenue in Lowell
Location
Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Status
Open to traffic
Design
Deck truss
Dimensions
Total length: 485.9 ft.
Inventory number
BH 19406 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 08/2007)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 38.2 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2007)
21,000

Comments 

University Avenue Bridge
Posted November 21, 2008, by Steve Lindsey (SteveLindsey60 [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Officially called the Textile Memorial Bridge, it is also called the Moody Street Bridge; and because of its association with writer Jack Kerouac, called the Watermelon Man Bridge and just "Jack's Bridge."

Short-term repairs are being made as of this writing(November 2008.) Plans call for a new span to be built upstream. When completed, the historic span is slated for demolition.

A group has formed to save the span as a public space and bicycle and pedestrian crossway like Boston's Northern Avenue Bridge as well as a park like proposed plans for Northfield, Ma's Schell Memorial Bridge. The group wants it as a tribute to Kerouac as he crossed it daily as a child and used the bridge for a chapter of his novel Dr. Sax.

For a view of Jack's Bridge, see: http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/archives/arc_911/ioo907.htm