The Connecticut Department of Transportation received an award in a national competition this week for its replacement of the Q Bridge in New Haven, also known as Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge. It was selected from 21 transportation projects in the Northeast for “Best Use of Innovation.”
The Q Bridge was completed eight months ahead of schedule, and opened to four lanes of southbound traffic last September. The first of its kind in the United States, the Q Bridge is an extradosed bridge, meaning it has shallower cable angles and lower tower heights, but still is able to span 4,200 feet across New Haven Harbor.
Regina Aris, a member of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials awards committee, said the design of the bridge has now been replicated in other states.
“It’s not just a highway -- it’s a bridge,” Aris said. “So a bridge brings an additional layer of complexity. It was done in a densely populated area. It had many different kinds of uses between residential, business, commercial, the Coast Guard.”
Aris said the Q Bridge project team’s communication across private and public parties proved to be extremely efficient. Mark Rolfe, a DOT construction administrator involved with the Q Bridge program since the early design stages in 2001, said the project team made a special effort to coordinate with neighborhood groups and the city so they knew and understood what the state was doing.
“We informed the general public, the traveling public, the users of the bridge -- here’s what the status of the construction is, and how we’re doing the milestones that we set up to deliver the program,” Rolfe said.
The northbound side of the bridge has been open since 2012. It’s part of a nearly $2 billion improvement project of a seven-mile stretch of I-95 that’s been underway for nearly two decades.
The $415 million bridge spans the Quinnipiac River and connects with I-95, I-91 and Route 34, carrying 140,000 vehicles daily.
