Grand Avenue Bridge (AKA Dragon Bridge), New Haven, Connecticut

Grand Avenue Bridge

My best friend texted me this morning, asking what bridge I was going to hunt today. I wasn't planning on hunting any bridges today, because the day was gray, I have so many bridges in my backlog, blahblahblahblahblah. Well, there's this swing bridge down in New Haven I hadn't ever gotten, and it's just 45 minutes away, so I figured I'd just pop down and grab it. Better than wasting the day away doing laundry.

Note to self: still need to do laundry.

The Grand Avenue Bridge connects the Fair Haven and Fair Haven Heights neighborhoods across the Quinnipiac River. It swings upon signal during the day except for the morning and evening rush, and at night by calling at least an hour ahead and getting someone to come out to the bridge house there in the center and open the bridge manually. No boats were in the vicinity of the bridge while I was there. It would have been fun to figure out how to transmit the signal and make the bridge open.... I wonder if people do that.

Detail of the bridge house

I've read rumors that this bridge is due to close permanently. I'm thinking that's a little bit of hyperbole. There are some articles in the local paper on closing the bridge temporarily for repairs, but a bridge with this many moving parts is going to need maintenance. This bridge isn't going anywhere. Except 90 degrees clockwise, sometimes.

The Fair Haven neighborhood was once known as "Dragon", and the original bridge that crossed the Quinnipiac at this point, was the "Dragon Bridge". That bridge was replaced in the late 19th century with this more modern one by the famous Berlin Iron Bridge Company that built iron bridges throughout the northeast. This is an astonishingly intact example of a bridge from that era, and I'm certain it's had extensive reconstruction. A little bit of living history. One source says the old bridge was replaced by a newer bridge of the same design back in the 1980s. This account is confirmed by the documents on file with the National Register of Historic Places, which says:

On the east bank of the river there are fewer open spaces due to demolition. The major losses have been confined to the commercial buildings on the south side of East Grand Avenue near the bridge. The bridge itself was dismantled, but is now in the process of being rebuilt on the original location and according to the same design as the turn-of-the-century bridge. 

Pre-reconstruction Grand Avenue Bridge
The New Haven Colony Historical Society Photo by William K. Sacco

As you can see from the picture above, the new bridge is an exact recreation of the old one. The city of New Haven wanted to make it wider and more modern, but popular outcry forced them to keep it the way it was. Whether people were complaining because they liked the old bridge, or because a newer bridge would have meant the destruction of more property, I don't know. But I'll take any Berlin Iron Bridge I can get. These bridges don't only signify New England to the world, they mark Connecticut in particular. Like the Town lattice bridges before it, Berlin Iron Bridges are living examples of Connecticut's historic leadership in civil engineering.

Grand Avenue Bridge from the other bank

Portal to the Grand Avenue Bridge

"Q" Bridge, New Haven, CT

Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge AKA "Q" Bridge

About the picture: There are three bridges in that picture. The one in the background is the Tomlinson Lift Bridge. The one in the foreground is the OLD Quinnipiac Bridge (AKA Q Bridge). The one in the middle -- the one with all the cables -- is the NEW Q Bridge.

I hadn't photographed the new construction since last December, when it was just the concrete posts and some highway stretching away from it in both directions, with only some of the cables attached, and no clear idea how the bridge would shape up.

Construction ca Christmas, 2011

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article in the Courant about the plans for the Q Bridge, along with a rendering of how it would look when completed (read that article here). And then I overheard some people talking about the bridge construction at work!

I really had no choice; I had to return to New Haven and check it out for myself.

The section of I-95 that passes over the Quinnipiac River is one of the most congested sections of road in the state. Everyone traveling from northern or eastern New England to New York City goes through this bottleneck. Traffic is sometimes stalled for miles. The new Q bridge will greatly expand the road's capacity in both directions, as well as using an innovative bridge design not before seen in the US, the "extra-dosed" cable design.

Gulls

These seagulls were hanging around on Long Wharf, so I took their pictures. It's not ALWAYS about the bridges!

Closer look at the cable supports

Parking is easy, just follow the signs for Long Wharf and park in any of the small parking lots. If you go up Chapel Street, there's some parking at a sports field just north of the bridge. If the traffic is bad that day, you can park on I-95 itself in a traffic jam for an up-close look at the new construction.

Wind Turbine

If you choose to park at the sports field, you get this awesome wind turbine for free.

Here it is again!

That turbine looks even more awesome from the OTHER side, looming behind the bridges...

Tomlinson Lift Bridge, New Haven, CT

Tomlinson Lift Bridge

As I feared, the Connecticut River Eagle Cruise was canceled today due to the weather -- high winds were whipping the river to a froth. We're rescheduled for next Saturday and are hoping for better, or at least quieter, weather. Probably still be cold, though. January may have forgotten the season, but February remembers.

The Tomlinson Lift bridge, and its parallel partner, the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, cross the mouth of the Quinnipiac River as it empties into New Haven Harbor. The P.H.M. Bridge, AKA the Quinnipiac Bridge or simply the Q Bridge, is easily tall enough to let the tankers and container ships crawl a little further upriver, but the Tomlinson Bridge, which carries local traffic, needs a lift.

Taken from Long Wharf

I've seen a few lift bridges -- I saw a couple nice ones in Bridgeport last weekend -- but the Tomlinson is the nicest. Aluminum cladding gives the towers a classy feel, and the pale blue truss paint blend naturally with the harbor water and the sky.

It's a perfect complement to its setting and is a magnificent bridge for all its small size.

The Hardesty & Hanover civil engineering firm completely revamped the Tomlinson Lift Bridge about a decade ago; there's a complete report about the work (and some amazing aerial photos showing the bridge along with the "old" Q Bridge) on their website.

There's a floating platform where sightseers can look at the bridge or the ships in the harbor on the east side of the bridge. There's no decent place to park for it, though. The area immediately around the bridge is closed off while the Q Bridge is expanded. An oil pumping station (to the left in both pictures) closes off the west end of the bridge. Up the road a bit on the east side are some small businesses and residential areas, not fantastic places to park. I parked in a banquet hall parking lot about half a mile away.

It was worth it!

The second picture was taken from Long Wharf Park, which is another really great place to view the ships in the harbor, the lift bridge and the Q bridge. It's also a fantastic place for clam digging (but you probably need a license for that). The east point of the park has some utterly beautiful memorials to fallen soldiers. People on my social networks have seen this picture many times... and here it is again.

Veteran's Memorial in Long Wharf Park

Tanker delivering oil

Container ship unloading

Edgewood Ave Bridge, New Haven, CT

The weekend for my Connecticut River Cruise / Bald Eagle (photo) shoot / East Haddam Bridge Re-visit finally arrives and the climate remembers it's supposed to be winter. They've cancelled the morning cruises Saturday and Sunday, and the later cruises on those days are "watch this space!". I won't know if Sunday is a go until Sunday morning.

Anyway. Last weekend's third stop after Bridgeport and Stratford was friendly old New Haven, just three quarters of an hour south. New Haven provides a calm harbor for shipping where the Quinnipiac River flows into Long Island Sound. New Haven is also home to Yale University, which today's bridge is kinda near. Well, honestly, anywhere in New Haven is kinda close to Yale. Its tendrils reach throughout the city.

The Edgewood Bridge crosses the West River in the center of Edgewood Park (just head down Yale Boulevard; you'll find it; it's near the Yale Bowl). It's made of steel-reinforced concrete. Special care was taken with the molded balustrades and other ornamentation to make the Edgewood Bridge truly spectacular. With the ornate railings above, and the road/jogging path running through the arches below, this is a bridge truly meant to be seen and appreciated.

You can park along the street. Access to the path and river is via staircases at all four corners of the bridge. Edgewood Park is a really, really nice place, and I can just imagine how wonderful it will look in season. Come for the park, definitely, but go by the bridge while you're there.