Old Lyme, CT — Amtrak and its construction contractor recently welcomed more than 400 civil engineering and construction management college students to tour the Connecticut River Bridge Replacement Project as part of The Moles Annual Student Day. 

The Connecticut River Bridge is a 119 years old and a critical part of the Northeast Corridor connecting Boston to New York and communities in between. Because of its age, the bridge is a bottleneck on the corridor with a movable bridge span that opens frequently for marine traffic but can struggle to close. 

A modern replacement under construction will enhance the reliability and resiliency of passenger rail in this area, with a movable span that will reliably open and close. The new bridge will also enable a higher maximum speed, increasing the maximum operating speed from 45 mph to 70 mph. 

Construction kicked off in fall 2024 and is well underway, with more than a dozen cranes across the site. During the recent event, students received a rare chance to visit the bridge up close, touring the yard where structural steel assembly is happening, visiting the west and east trestles to see drilled shaft work platforms, seeing the environmental mitigation work and more. 

The new bridge will begin serving trains by 2030 and the overall project (including demolition of the existing bridge) will be completed in 2031.