Running Around Hartford- The Railroad Bridge Course

As I have mentioned before, we have a small group of runners that work out from the Connecticut DEP on Elm Street in Hartford, CT. Over the years, we have developed a number of courses to run. One such course is referred to as "The Railroad Bridge".   The standard course runs from Elm Street on Bushnell Park across Main Street to Sheldon Street, towards the Connecticut River. The course passes by a CL&P facility on the left and then goes left under Route 91 onto the riverwalk , headed north away from the Colt building. The riverwalk takes you behind the CT Convention Center and Constitution Plaza. You pass under both the Founders and Buckley bridges. Before long you arrive in Riverside Park and pass by the Boathouse. Here you can take either the trail along the river or the internal trail, which both head to the railroad bridge. Once you reach the RR bridge, you have to climb up a small hill to get to the bridge. On the right side of the bridge are wooden planks which you can run across to reach East Hartford. At the end of the RR bridge, you go a little ways down along the rail and go right on top of the East Hartford dike. Now you are running south towards CT Blvd. At the end of the dike, go left and then straight behind several car dealerships on CT Blvd. We go right onto the second road, the Jeep dealership should be on your left. At CT Blvd, you go straight across and then right under the highway and take your first left. You will then pass under another bridge. At the end of that road, take a right, go past a Route 84entrance ramp on your right onto the paved sidewalk that goes back over the Founders bridge to Constitution Plaza. At the end of the plaza, you take the steps down, and go left and then a quick right to reach Main Street again. You go straight across Main Street and then left, which takes you back to Elm Street. The distance is about 6 miles. Try it sometime. You can't beat the view from the RR bridge.