Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge (Connecticut)

The Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, often called the Q Bridge by local people, is an extradosed bridge in Connecticut. It carries Interstate 95, also known as the Connecticut Turnpike, over the mouth of the Quinnipiac River near the city of New Haven. This bridge replaced an older one that opened on January 2, 1958. The old bridge had a design where steel beams held up a concrete road surface for six lanes of traffic, but it did not have extra space on the sides for safety.

In 1995, the bridge was named the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge to remember the attack on Pearl Harbor. A new, bigger bridge was built to replace the old one. This new bridge cost $554 million and has ten lanes. The first part of it opened to traffic on June 22, 2012, and people used it for both directions until the second part was finished in late 2015. When the new bridge was fully finished in September 2015, it became the first extradosed bridge completed in the United States. The bridge is an important part of a large $2 billion project called the New Haven Harbor Crossing Improvement Program.

History

The original bridge at this location was built as part of the Connecticut Turnpike, a toll road that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. This steel bridge was finished on January 2, 1958, and was meant to handle 90,000 cars each day. By 1993, the bridge over the Quinnipiac River was old and traffic jams were a big problem.

Signature span replacement

After some disagreement about the design, a group was formed to find the best plan for the new bridge. They looked at many ideas and finally decided on a 10-lane bridge with a train station.

Construction started in 2001 but faced delays because of important old buildings and other planning issues. The bridge was built in stages. The first part opened in 2012, and the whole project was finished in 2016, later than first planned. The new bridge now has separate spans for traffic going north and south.

Awards

The bridge won the top prize in AASHTO's 2016 America's Transportation Awards. It was chosen as the best entry out of 83 from transportation departments all across the country.