Crews make final concrete pour on Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in Connecticut

Updated May 29, 2015

Construction crews working on the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge celebrated the final concrete pour to connect the second half of the new bridge in New Haven, Connecticut.

The New Haven Register reported a concrete crew from Walsh Construction/PCL poured the last of the concrete May 22 with a spider and form travelers.

Connecticut Department of Transportation project engineer Matt Briggs said that while the bridge isn’t expected to be open until October, it’s a “good feeling” to be essentially done with the bridge.

“When an engineering plan actually works real well, it’s just a good feeling. The form of the bridge is almost perfect. It came together as they planned right in middle (with) an uneventful close pour, which is good for us.” Briggs said. “… This is huge. Everything can happen concurrently now. There’s no more waiting. There’s no more, you have to do Y before we can do Z.”

But there is still plenty of work to do before drivers can start using the new bridge. Parapets need to be installed and latex-modified concrete will go over the surface of the bridge. Diamond grinders will then cut the grooves on the road for drainage and to increase traction.

The bridge is part of an overall project to rebuild the Interstate 95 and 91 interchange, and supervising engineer Vladislav Kaminsky said that none of the old highway would be used by the time the bridge opens in the fall. Kaminsky said that the entire project would be complete when the other roads and bridges are finished in November 2016.

The Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge alone cost $554 million with the interchange costing an additional $453.7 million.