Community Access

Community Access

Community Access

 

Gold Star Memorial Bridge Travel Updates/Closures

UPDATE

“The bridge is safe. The structural integrity was not damaged at all,” said Josh Morgan, CT DOT spokesperson

The next step in the clean up is to get the spots that are still closed back open.

“Entering 95 Southbound from that bridge street on-ramp in Groton, that’s going to look different. That’s a two-lane on-ramp, but we’re restricting it to one lane,” Morgan explained. “The shoulder’s going to remain closed, and the pedestrian crossing is going to remain closed.”

Morgan says plans are in the work to get those areas open again, but no exact timeline is in place.

A deadly accident and fire on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge has CT DOT, DEEP and commuters concerned! There are reports of structural damage, even below the bridge, residents and even boaters could feel the heat. Evacuations were put in place for safety. Travel will be tricky as officials determine the safety of the bridge which was actually undergoing some updates.

The Department of Transportation has the closure between exits 86 and 84. The northbound side has since reopened. The southbound side, however, remains closed as of 5:30p.m. Friday evening. Sadly, a person is dead and two others are being treated for injuries at a hospital after a fuel tanker carrying home heating fuel rolled over Friday morning on the Gold Star Bridge in Groton. New London Mayor Michael Passero confirmed the driver of the tanker was pronounced dead at the scene and it this time their name has not been released to the public. 

According to reports and announced at a news conference with the Governor, State Police and more suggested a passenger vehicle flew off and hit the tanker which cause the incident.

Officials said a lot of the oil flowed down the drainage system as it burned, and a large part of the fence along the pedestrian pathway is now melted. Authorities said the fire spread to buildings below the bridge.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is working to determine if the bridge, which carries 60,000 vehicles a day, is unsafe.

“For now, it is going to be an extended closure,” Garrett Eucalitto, the DOT commissioner said. “We don’t know how long until we are able to do extensive analysis of the structure. Given the way it’s built, it’s a two-truss span system, so it’s truss structures on both sides of the bridge and nothing in the middle, so those balance out the entire bridge.”

DETOURS

Right now, those heading south on I-95 have to either go up Route 12 to the Mohegan-Pequot Bridge or through Norwich to catch Route 2 to I-395.

If the bridge’s southbound lanes must be closed for an extensive period, DOT officials said they are working to determine if the northbound lanes of the bridge could carry two-way traffic.

The Gold Star Memorial Bridge is a pair of steel truss bridges that carry both Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1 across the Thames River between New London, Connecticut, US and Groton, Connecticut.


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