Housatonic River Railroad Bridge

The Housatonic River Railroad Bridge is a historic bridge carrying Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line trackage across the lower Housatonic River in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The bridge is also used by Amtrak for its Northeast Corridor services. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, which also refers to the bridge as the Devon Bridge.[1] It is also referred to as the Devon Railroad Bridge by the state Department of Environmental Protection.[2]

Devon Bridge
The bridge in the 1980s
LocationMilford and Stratford, Connecticut
Coordinates41°12′19″N 73°6′37″W
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1906
ArchitectAmerican Bridge Company
Architectural styleScherzer Rolling Lift Bascule
MPSMovable Railroad Bridges on the NE Corridor in Connecticut TR
NRHP reference No.87000842[1]
Added to NRHPJune 12, 1987

It is a "Scherzer Rolling Lift Bascule"-type bascule bridge. It has a steel superstructure and block stone piers. The moveable span is a Warren through truss span.[3]

History

The current bridge is the fourth railroad span in the same location, originally known as Naugatuck Junction. The original bridge was the first railroad bridge over the Housatonic river, built by the New York and New Haven Railroad, and was a single-track wooden covered Howe truss, 1,293 feet (394 m) in length and a draw of 134 feet (41 m), built in 1848. It was the longest covered bridge ever built in the state of Connecticut. The second bridge was a double-track cast iron Whipple truss, 1,091 feet (333 m) in length and a draw of 206 feet (63 m), built in 1872 by the Keystone Bridge Company for the New York and New Haven Railroad. The third bridge was a double-track wrought iron Pratt truss, 1,091 feet (333 m) in length and a draw of 206 feet (63 m), built in 1884 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The current bridge, a four-track steel with Warren through truss spans, Scherzer Bascule bridge, 1,072 feet (327 m) in length and a draw of 110 feet (34 m), was completed in 1906 by the American Bridge Company for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Its completion finished the quadruple-tracking of the New Haven mainline from Woodlawn Junction to New Haven.[4]

Repairs were planned for six months starting April 25, 2015.[5]

Amtrak was awarded up to $246 million in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds in November 2023 for design of a replacement for the span. Amtrak will contribute an additional $16 million, while the state of Connecticut will provide $45 million. Up to an additional $119 million was awarded for interim repairs to the bridge.[6][7]

See also

References
  1. "National Register of Historic Places". National Park Service. 2010-04-10. Archived from the original on 2013-02-20.
  2. Connecticut Boating Safety Regulations
  3. Anne Baggerman (August 11, 1977). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Housatonic River Railroad Bridge / Devon Bridge". National Park Service. and Accompanying one photo, from 1986
  4. "Annual Report of N.Y., N.H. & H." Hartford Courant. October 3, 1907. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Changes to Waterbury Branch Service Starting April 25 Accommodate Necessary Infrastructure Improvements". Metro-North Railroad. March 26, 2015. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  6. "FY 2022-2023 Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program for the Northeast Corridor (FSP-NEC) Selections: Project Summaries" (PDF). Federal Railroad Administration. November 6, 2023.
  7. "FACT SHEET: President Biden Advances Vision for World Class Passenger Rail by Delivering Billions in New Funding" (Press release). The White House. November 6, 2023.

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