Connecticut River Railroad Bridge (Northeast Corridor)

The Connecticut River Railroad Bridge has carried trains between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme, Connecticut, since 1907, when the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad replaced an aging single-track span that could no longer bear the traffic the line demanded. Built by the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company of Chicago, it combines truss spans with a single-leaf bascule and today carries Amtrak’s Acela and Northeast Regional trains, Shore Line East, and freight. Rehabilitations in 1976, 1981, and 1997 could not keep pace with its deterioration, and the draw span jammed three times between 2000 and 2001, once in the open position.

An inspection in 2006 declared the bridge structurally deficient. A $1.3 billion replacement bascule, to be built fifty-two feet to the south with greater clearance and higher operating speeds, began construction in September 2024 and is scheduled for completion in 2031.

The Connecticut River Railroad Bridge carries Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor across the Connecticut River between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme, Connecticut. It comprises several truss spans and a single-leaf bascule span. Amtrak owns the structure, which carries more than fifty Northeast Regional and Acela intercity trains each day, along with Shore Line East commuter service and freight trains of the Providence and Worcester Railroad. ¹⁵ During the height of the boating season, the draw opens for maritime traffic several times a day.

Construction

A bridge had stood at the crossing since 1870, rebuilt upon its original piers in 1889. ^{1 2} By the turn of the century, the single-track structure could no longer bear the frequency or the weight of the trains the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad wished to run across it.

The New Haven turned to the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company of Chicago for a replacement. Construction began in May 1905, and the substructure was completed in April 1906. The new bridge carried two tracks, and its abutments were built long enough to accommodate a second set of spans should the line ever be quadruple-tracked. ³ The bridge opened on August 6, 1907. ¹

In 1987, the bridge was determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, but the listing was never completed, the owner having objected. ⁶

Deterioration

The structure underwent a rehabilitation of its superstructure in 1976, followed by mechanical and electrical work in 1981 and again in 1997. The repairs did not arrest its decline. In 2000, a major electrical failure left the draw span stuck in the open position, severing the rail line entirely. The bridge jammed twice more the following year, on those occasions in the closed position. ⁴ A failure of the draw to open or close reliably cascades outward, delaying rail and maritime traffic alike. ¹⁵

An inspection in 2006 found the bridge structurally deficient and concluded that periodic rehabilitation could no longer keep the century-old structure in service. ⁵

Planning the Replacement

An environmental assessment released in May 2014 identified two preferred courses: a bascule bridge of a size similar to the existing span, or a vertical lift bridge offering possibly greater clearance. ⁵ Either would be built on a parallel alignment just south of the present structure. High-level fixed designs, which would have required no movable section at all, were set aside because the approaches necessary to carry the tracks over the river would have been massive, intruding upon nearby wetlands and driving up the cost of construction and land acquisition alike.

Staging plans released in April 2020 settled the question in favor of a bascule bridge, to be built fifty-two feet south of the existing span, with vertical clearance in the closed position increased from eighteen feet to twenty-four. ⁷ Operating speed across the new structure will rise from forty-five miles per hour to seventy. ⁸

Funding assembled over the following years. Amtrak and the Connecticut Department of Transportation received $65.2 million in federal funds in October 2020. ⁹ Amtrak applied for a further federal grant in mid-2023 ¹² and was awarded $826.64 million that November through the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail, administered by the Federal Railroad Administration and made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. ^{8 11 15} Amtrak committed an additional $148 million of its own, and the state of Connecticut $58 million.

Building the New Bridge

Amtrak awarded the construction contract in June 2024 to a joint venture of O&G Industries and Tutor Perini, the total cost of the project expected to reach $1.3 billion. ¹³ Construction began in September 2024. ¹⁴

The new structure will carry two electrified tracks across a movable span, outfitted with new track, signals, catenary, power, communications, controls, and security systems. ¹⁵ Its bascule span will measure 207 feet. The work calls for 25,000 cubic yards of concrete, more than thirteen million pounds of structural steel, and better than four million pounds of reinforcing steel, carried on deep foundation shafts drilled to diameters of three, four, six, and eight feet.

Because the new bridge rises roughly fifty feet south of the old one, trains continue to run throughout construction. ¹⁵ The new tracks will tie back into the existing line between a thousand and fifteen hundred feet beyond each end of the bridge. The joint venture expects to employ as many as 150 of its own personnel at the peak of the work, with up to 300 on site counting subcontractors.

The old bridge is to be demolished once the new one carries traffic. ¹⁵ Its replacement is designed for a service life of a hundred years.