Thames River Bridge (Amtrak)

This article is about a named bridge in the United States. For structures in the UK, see List of crossings of the River Thames.

Thames River Bridge
File:Thames River Bridge (Connecticut) 101.JPG Looking east along the bridge, 26 May 2012
Coordinates
Carries	Two railroad tracks
Crosses	Thames River
Locale	New London, Connecticut and Groton, Connecticut
Official name	Thames River Bridge
Maintained by	Amtrak [1]
Characteristics
Design	Truss with bascule opening (opening converted to vertical lift)
Material	Steel
Total length	1,389 feet (423 m)
History
Opened	1919 (renovated 2008)

Amtrak's Thames River Bridge spans from New London to Groton, Connecticut, United States, crossing Connecticut's Thames River.

Design and history

The bridge was originally a Strauss heel-trunnion Warren through-truss bascule design, built in 1919. It was built by the American Bridge Company for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, replacing a span dating from 1889. In 2008 it underwent a renovation which included the draw span's conversion from a bascule to a vertical-lift mechanism.

As built in 1919, the bridge's abutments and piers were designed to carry a second set of double-track spans, in the event that an expansion to four tracks was ever undertaken at this location by the New Haven Railroad (it never was).

Operation

File:Amtrak's Thames River Bridge.jpg

The Virginia-class attack submarine USS Missouri (SSN 780) heads towards the Thames River Bridge as it departs Naval Submarine Base New London for a scheduled deployment.

The bridge opens for marine traffic more than 4 times per day and serves up to 36 passenger trains and two freight trains per day. The bridge sits 29 feet (8.8 m) above mean high water, and the vertical lift span opens to 135 feet (41 m) above MHW and provides 105 feet (32 m) of horizontal clearance.

It is one of eight moveable bridges on the Amtrak route through Connecticut surveyed in one multiple property study in 1986. The eight bridges from west to east, and two other newer ones belonging to Amtrak, are, in order:

• Mianus River Railroad Bridge at Cos Cob, built in 1904;
• Norwalk River Railroad Bridge at Norwalk, 1896;
• Saugatuck River Railroad Bridge at Westport, 1905;
• Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge at Bridgeport, 1902 (replaced 1998)
• Housatonic River Railroad Bridge, at Devon, 1905;
• Connecticut River Railroad Bridge, Old Saybrook-Old Lyme, 1907;
• Niantic River Bridge, East Lyme-Waterford, 1907 (replaced 2012);
• Shaw's Cove Railroad Bridge, New London, 1984;
• (this bridge) Thames River Bridge, New London-Groton, built in 1919;
• Mystic River Railroad Bridge, Mystic, 1984.

See also

• List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Connecticut

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. CT-25, "New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, Groton Bridge, Spanning Thames River between New London & Groton, New London, New London County, CT", 24 photos, 10 data pages, 2 photo caption pages