After Two Decades, Connecticut’s Last Aging Rail Bridge Is Finally Being Rebuilt

(Railfanning.org News Wire) — In February 2005, Railfanning.org reported on three aging movable bridges in Connecticut — all at least 85 years old, all carrying Amtrak between New York and Boston, and all capable of severing that route if one ever failed to close.

Twenty-one years later, Amtrak is finally addressing the list.

On Sept. 22, the railroad released a construction update on its $1.3 billion replacement of the Connecticut River Bridge between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. The current span opened in 1907 and still carries more than 50 Amtrak, Shore Line East and freight trains a day.

The original warning came from the New England Council, which was fighting a proposed federal budget that would have cut Amtrak’s operating subsidy. The group argued Amtrak needed more capital investment, not less, and pointed to the Thames River, Niantic River and Connecticut River bridges as evidence — each one opened for boat traffic, and a mechanical failure on any of them could cut off the Boston end of the Northeast Corridor.

Amtrak replaced two of the three first. It awarded Cianbro Corp. a $76 million contract to replace the Thames River Bridge’s movable span, with work beginning in 2006. The new 188-foot vertical-lift span was floated into place in 2008.

The Niantic River Bridge followed, with its new span entering service in 2012.

The Connecticut River Bridge took longer. Its 1,500-foot structure is still raised several times a day during peak boating season, and age has made the lifting machinery unreliable enough to delay trains and boats alike.

The environmental review wrapped up in 2017; the money arrived in 2023, when the Federal Railroad Administration awarded Amtrak up to $826.64 million toward the project as part of a $16.4 billion Northeast Corridor funding package. Amtrak awarded the construction contract in June 2024 and broke ground that September.

The new bridge, rising just south of the old one, will let trains run at up to 70 mph, up from 45 today, and its added clearance should mean fewer openings for boats. Steel is coming in from Florida, Alabama and Pennsylvania. Service continues on the old bridge, which will be demolished once its replacement opens.

Of the three bridges the New England Council cited in 2005, two have been replaced. Crews are building the replacement for the third.