The historic Grand Avenue Bridge is a moveable swing span that first opened in 1898 and crosses the Quinnipiac River in New Haven. As part of a rehabilitation program to extend the structure’s overall lifespan for decades and significantly reduce the city’s annual maintenance costs, STV provided construction engineering inspection services.
The nearly $25 million project extended the approach spans on either side of the bridge to eliminate two spans while the swing span deck. Meanwhile, the floor system was replaced with new stringers and a composite exodermic bridge deck with a polyester polymer concrete overlay, which maximizes the compressive strength of concrete and the tensile strength of steel to provide a thinner deck and lighter structure so an improved live load capacity and durability could be achieved. In addition, mechanical parts were repaired or replaced, and new state-of-the-art controls were added to a fully renovated bridgetender’s control house at the top of the bridge.
