Tomlinson Vertical Lift Bridge

Development Team

Co-Owner: Connecticut Department of Transportation, Newington, Conn.
Co-Owner: Providence & Worcester Railroad Co., Worcester, Mass.
Owner's Representative: Close, Jensen & Miller, Wethersfield, Conn.
General Contractor: Cianbro Corp., Bloomfield, Conn..
Design Engineer: Hardesty & Hanover, NYC
Inspection Consultant: Parsons Brinckerhoff Construction Services, New Haven, Conn.
Steel Fabricator: National Eastern Corp., Plainville, Conn.
Pile Driving: Norwalk Marine Contractors Inc., Norwalk, Conn.
Electrical Contractor: Ducci Electric Contractors Inc., Torrington, Conn.

It took 10 years, but the reconstruction of the Tomlinson Bridge in New Haven, Conn., was finally completed last year.

After a decade of study, design and construction, the bridge, which carries U.S. Route 1 into New Haven and a railroad freight line to the city's waterfront, emerged as the largest lift bridge east of the Mississippi River.

The new $120 million Tomlinson Bridge, designed by Hardesty & Hanover LLP of New York City, is 90 ft. wide and 270 ft. long with two 30-ft. tower spans and six 100-ft.-long approach spans. The lift span weighs almost 6.5 million lbs. with a total load-to-move of 13 million lbs.

It provides a channel with 240 ft. horizontal clearance and 13 ft. vertical clearance when the span is closed, and an additional 62 ft. vertical clearance when it is open.
The project began as a renovation of the old Tomlinson Bridge but evolved into the construction of a totally new structure. Securing the bridge's lift piers initially proved difficult because rock elevation and slope differed along the route. To secure the piers, teeth were welded to the tip of 20-in-diameter pile shells that were then drilled into the bedrock. For some piles, an adequate seal was not achieved until the pile had been seated into 5 ft. of bedrock.

Almost 17 million lbs. of steel were used in the project. Large-box fabrication (counterweights), small-box fabrication (truss elements), weldments (floorbeams) as well as rolled elements (stringers/bracing) where all a part of building the bridge.
The steel erection for the towers had to be done from the water. It involved hooking up two tugboats with wire rope towlines to a 220- by 140-ft. barge that held the assembled lift span. The span was then rotated into the opening between the towers. Cables were used to hold the lift span as workers attached 128 counterweight cables to the lifting girder of the lift span.

As the tide changed, the span was lowered on the bearing seats, transferring the load from the barge to the bearings, shims and shim block. Then the tugboats pushed the barge out of the channel and back to shore.

Next came the work of placing and adjusting all the mechanical components to establish the balance between the lift span and the counterweights. This work took five days by crews working two, 12-hour shifts.

The new Tomlinson Vertical Lift Bridge now carries four lanes of traffic across New Haven Harbor and a single-track freight line owned by the Providence & Worchester Railroad Co. that connects the waterfront with the Northeast Corridor line of Conrail.