Rating:
4 votes

Gold Star Memorial Bridge (1943)

New London County, Connecticut

Photos 

Overview

These photos were part of a HAER project to document the Northeast Corridor rail line, but just happened to capture the I-95 bridge in the background

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record as part of documentation of the Northeast Corridor

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #153664

Map 

Street View 

Thames River Highway Bridge 

Written by Calvin K Lunny

1939 Thames River Highway Toll Bridge was approved by the Connecticut General Assembly.
1941 Construction began in February 1941 by Harris Structural Steel Co.
1943 Bridge opens to public use on February 27, 1943
1951 Bridge renamed to Gold Star Memorial Bridge

Facts 

Overview
Pair of deck truss bridges over Thames River on I-95/US 1 in New London
Location
New London, New London County, Connecticut
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1943; twin span built 1973
Builder
- Harris Structural Steel Co. of South Plainfield, New Jersey
Design
Pair of 11-span Warren deck trusses
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 540.1 ft.
Total length: 5,931.4 ft. (1.1 mi.)
Deck width: 80.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 17.8 ft.
Also called
Thames River I-95 Bridge
Groton-New London Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.36386, -72.08742   (decimal degrees)
41°21'50" N, 72°05'15" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/743613/4583244 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
New London
Average daily traffic (as of 2015)
58,300
Inventory numbers
CT 3819 (Connecticut bridge number)
BH 12210 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of August 2017)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 51 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Built 1943 (124)
Built during 1940s (4,143)
Cantilevered (308)
Cantilevered truss (250)
Connecticut (806)
Deck truss (1,808)
Flared (403)
Harris Structural Steel Co. (10)
Have street view (27,609)
Interstate 95 (26)
Navigable waterway (2,172)
New London County, Connecticut (76)
 New London, Connecticut (7)
Open (40,223)
Over a mile long (302)
Owned by state (16,213)
Skewed (4,952)
Span length 500-1000 feet (395)
Total length over 2500 feet (924)
Truss (33,702)
US 1 (111)
Warren deck truss (615)
Warren truss (6,732)

Update Log 

  • September 19, 2014: Essay added by Calvin K Lunny
  • October 12, 2012: New photo from Jann Mayer
  • March 23, 2012: Photos imported by James Baughn
  • March 19, 2011: New Street View added by J.P.
  • January 30, 2010: Added HAER photos

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • HAER CT-11 - Northeast Railroad Corridor, Amtrak Route between New York/Connecticut & Connec, New Haven, New Haven County, CT
  • Wikipedia
  • J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Jann Mayer - jannmayer [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Calvin K Lunny - cklunny [at] gmail [dot] com
Post a comment here

Comments 

Gold Star Memorial Bridge (1943)
Posted August 7, 2021, by Jerry Tobin (atobin465 [at] frontier [dot] com)

I see no mention of the first span being a toll bridge into the 1960s. The booths and toll were removed after the bridge was fully paid for.