Remaining pier.........gondolas........hints.........Italian ren.........The Da Vinci Code......Id be careful of bobby traps.............if the entrance is there and IF there is an enormous treasure........he has another trick..................................up his sleeve..............

Demolition of Aqueduct Bridge[edit]

Side view of second Aqueduct Bridge abutment, with Water Street and Whitehurst Freeway visible through the arch.

On June 1, 1916, the Army Corps of Engineers named the new bridge "Francis Scott Key Bridge," in honor of the man who had written the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner whose home was just a few blocks from the bridge's abutment. Plans began to be drawn up at that time.^[60] The plans were nearly complete by September.^[61] When repairs on Aqueduct Bridge were made in October 1916 to prepare the structure for winter, the Corps discovered even more deterioration than before.^[62]

In January 1917, the Corps of Engineers found that inflation in the price of construction materials made it necessary to ask for $300,000 more in funding from Congress.^[63] Congress balked at paying.^[64] But citizen pressure and the danger of collapse due to ice flows in the spring^[65] convinced Congress to pay the money. Construction contracts were drawn up in late February,^[66] and excavation work on the D.C. abutments began in March.^[67] The first coffer dam for construction of the piers was sunk in May 1918,^[68] and, in July 1921, the Aqueduct Bridge was ordered to be closed.^[69] The new $2.35 million Key Bridge opened on January 17, 1923, whereupon the Aqueduct Bridge was closed to traffic.^[70]