Gold Star Memorial Bridges

The Gold Star Memorial Bridge is a pair of deck truss bridges carrying Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1 over the Thames River between New London and Groton, Connecticut. The structure comprises eleven Warren deck truss spans erected by the Harris Structural Steel Company. It is the longest bridge in Connecticut and the largest structure in the state, with more than 1,000,000 square feet of deck area, and its eleven lanes carry an average daily traffic of 117,000 vehicles.

Original 1943 Bridge

Construction of the present south span, which now carries northbound traffic, began in 1941 and was completed in 1943. It opened as a single structure carrying traffic in both directions. The bridge formed part of southeastern Connecticut’s “free span” highway, a 3.6-mile four-lane route connecting New London to Groton, and its purpose was to remove automobile traffic from the older bridge that had been carrying U.S. Route 1 across the Thames. ¹

In 1951 the crossing was designated the Gold Star Memorial Bridge in honor of members of the Armed Forces from Groton, New London, and Waterford who lost their lives in the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War. ²

In 1958 the U.S. Route 1 bypass containing the bridge was joined to the Connecticut Turnpike by an extension west to what is today the interchange of Interstates 95 and 395 in East Lyme. East of the bridge, a 13-mile bypass of State Route 184 was completed to the Rhode Island state line on December 12, 1964, formally making the bridge and both bypasses part of Interstate 95. ³

1975 Bridge

On July 1, 1972, while the north span was under construction, the masts of the United States Coast Guard Academy’s USCGC Eagle (WIX-327) caught the safety netting slung beneath the new structure. The upper portions of two masts were snapped off, and the ship required emergency repairs. ⁴

The north span opened on June 13, 1973. ⁵ The original span closed for reconstruction on June 28 ⁶ and reopened on December 16, 1975, carrying four lanes of northbound traffic. ⁷

The northbound span underwent an emergency bearing replacement in 2014. ⁸

2023 Tanker Crash and Fire

On April 21, 2023, a truck carrying heating oil collided with a vehicle on the southbound span, killing the driver of the oil truck and injuring at least two other people. ^{9 10 11} The crash spilled approximately 2,200 gallons of oil onto the deck, which then caught fire. Authorities initially believed the fire had spread to buildings below the bridge, ¹² but later stated that it reached only adjacent brush. The Connecticut Department of Transportation closed the southbound span while engineers confirmed the structure’s integrity, and it reopened to automobile traffic later the same day. ¹³