The Connecticut Department of Transportation's (CTDOT) $721 million Northbound Gold Star Memorial Bridge Rehabilitation Project, which also includes repairs to the southbound bridge, is upgrading two 6,000-ft.-long structures on I-95 over the Thames River in New London and Groton.
MSR Gold Star Bridge Partners, a tri-venture of MLJ Contracting Inc. of Great Neck, N.Y.; SPS New England Inc. of Salisbury, Mass.; and Railroad Construction Co. Inc. of Paterson, N.J., was awarded a $721,348,812.07 contract on Oct. 3, 2025. Funding includes a $158.2 million grant from the Bridge Investment Program, with the remaining funds coming from a combination of federal and state sources.
Construction began in early 2026 and is scheduled for completion in fall 2030. The northbound bridge has five lanes, while the southbound bridge has four lanes.
The critical bridges carry more than 60,000 cars and trucks daily across the railway tracks of New England Central Railroad and Providence and Worcester Railroad, as well as local roads in both municipalities.
"Originally opened in 1943, this iconic structure … plays a vital role in regional mobility and commerce," according to CTDOT. "The rehabilitation project will extend the bridge's service life through major structural, deck and safety improvements, ensuring it continues to meet modern standards while maintaining safe and reliable travel for decades to come. [It also will] increase structural capacity to allow permit vehicles (oversized vehicles) to travel over the bridge and to restore the bridge to a condition rating of 39 percent; satisfactory. The current bridge load capacity prevents permit vehicle crossings, causing a detour for these vehicles."
"The current bridge deck (northbound) is 55 years old and needs replacement," it added. "[The] bridge superstructure requires structural repairs to increase its load rating [and the] substructures require preservation work to maintain a state of good repair and ensure it remains safe and reliable."
The project has crews working on both bridges.
Work on the northbound bridge includes strengthening and repairing structural steel members in the girder spans; replacing all bearings on the girder and truss spans; replacing existing bridge deck joints, parapets and fencing with MASH-compliant three-rail steel barriers and stainless-steel mesh fencing; replacing concrete approach slabs; repairing concrete substructures; installing new bridge lighting; replacing overhead sign structures; and full superstructure painting.
The work on the southbound bridge is part of a four-year project that started last summer. It involves localized steel strengthening to support construction of a shared-use path. The scope includes truss-member and gusset-plate strengthening, as well as localized painting at steel-strengthening locations.
HNTB designed the northbound bridge project.
An Exodermic deck will replace the existing deck. Materials include ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) and a polyester polymer concrete (PPC) wearing overlay.
The rehabilitation of the northbound bridge has been divided into two main stages to minimize traffic impacts. Stage 1, from summer 2026 through spring 2028, focuses on the outer sections of the bridge deck. Stage 2, beginning in spring 2028, will cover the center section of the bridge deck.
"Travel lanes will be reduced to two lanes," according to CTDOT. "A traffic crossover will be implemented to share lanes on the current southbound bridge to help accommodate the northbound traffic flow from the reduced number of lanes on the northbound bridge. There will be ramp closures and temporary, short-term local road closures."
Three months into Stage 1 for the northbound bridge, MSR Gold Star Bridge Partners has completed construction and implementation of the crossover, installation of construction barriers on the northbound bridge, installation of temporary shielding, begun repairs to the concrete substructure and begun preparation for bearing replacement.
Over the next year, crews will concentrate on blasting and painting the bridge, bearing replacement, installation of new girders on the West Approach Viaduct and removal of the existing deck.
"Construction challenges include managing access to the structure while minimizing disruption to I-95, traffic in Groton and New London, and coordinating with the railroads under and adjacent to the bridge," said Jon Hart, MSR Gold Star Partners' project executive. "The extensive access shielding being installed under the bridge facilitates this access while protecting the public under and around the bridge.
"Progress of the work is proceeding well, despite the large snowstorms early in the year and the heavy rains this spring and summer," he added.
The project is primarily working during the day, with most work that impacts traffic lanes, such as paving, being performed at night.
"CTDOT has been a great partner to work with and has been very responsive to improve traffic conditions to minimize impact to the public," said Hart.
Deck replacement will be performed by cranes located on the deck and on the ground adjacent to the bridge.
"After the deck sections are cut and removed, new stringers are installed, followed by the new deck panels and UHPC closure pours between panels and over the stringers to create a fully composite deck," Hart told Construction Equipment Guide. "This is followed by milling the deck smooth and applying the PPC overlay wearing surface."
Construction materials include Cor-Tuf UHPC, a KwikBond Polymers PPC overlay, A913 quenched and self-tempered steel stringers, and A709 Grade 50 F2 steel for new girders.
Equipment being used on-site includes JLG manlifts supplied by United Rentals and Mazzotta Rentals; a Cat M322 excavator purchased from Milton CAT; a 26-ft. aluminum work boat purchased from Scully's Aluminum Boats; a Fassi F335 knuckle boom mounted on a Freightliner chassis purchased from SkyMark Cranes; and Ford F-650 cone and crash trucks purchased from Curry Supply.
Deck Replacement
GM2 Associates photo
Stage 2 will see crews remove and replace the bridge deck.
"Falsework will be installed in the form of temporary jacking towers used for bearing replacement," said Hart. "As all bearings are being replaced, the towers will be relocated throughout the project."
There also are temporary stringers being installed under the existing deck to allow removal and replacement of the adjacent permanent stringers. New stringers are being installed on the bulk of the bridge.
"Deck sections will be saw-cut and removed for all of the lanes in each stage," he added. "Deck removal will begin roughly simultaneously on both the north and south sections of Stage 1. Deck removal will take place in sections on the various structures to maintain stability. Each section of deck will take approximately four weeks to remove."
After the deck is removed, the work will focus on structural repairs, followed by stringer and new deck installation and UHPC closure pours.
The deck uses A706 Grade 80 galvanized rebar for long life. Deck-fill concrete is 4,400 psi, while the Cor-Tuf UHPC is a 20,000-psi design.
"The 4,400-psi concrete is installed at the precast plant and is steam-cured," said Hart. "The UHPC curing time has a target strength, so cure time will be related to placement and curing temperatures. UHPC will be placed mostly at night due to access restrictions."
Safety, Staffing
GM2 Associates photo
The safety program for the project is based on OSHA and CTDOT requirements and best practices implemented by all three JV partners.
"The safety program has been very successful, with full buy-in from our trade union partners and the support of CTDOT," said Hart.
The JV's management team includes managers, engineers and superintendents from all three JV partners.
"The team began mobilizing at NTP in November, with most team members being on-site since the beginning of January," said Hart.
On an average day, a significant number of JV and subcontractor employees are on-site, with staffing increasing as the work progresses.
Key subcontractors and suppliers for the early work have been L&L Painting, American Structural Works, A&J Paving, KTM Electrical and Tilcon.
More than 20,000 tons of existing concrete-filled steel grid deck and steel stringers will be removed.
"The steel grid is welded to the stringers, so the processor will need to separate the steel and concrete for recycling," said Hart. "The concrete will be crushed and available for reuse as sub-base on other projects."
New materials being brought to the project include 487,500 sq. ft. of new Exodermic deck and 6,000 tons of new structural steel girders and stringers.
Equipment Management
Ensuring that equipment remains in top condition is critical to meeting project benchmarks, and the JV partners are closely managing their fleets.
"We're experiencing normal wear and tear," said Hart. "Uptime is key due to many critical operations being off-shift and using the limited access of lane closures and having an impact across planned work in following shifts. We will have onsite mechanics at key times. Maintaining proper PMs, utilizing diagnostics from partners like Cat, [and] all drivers and operators ensuring that daily inspections are performed."
"There is open communication between the JV partners' equipment departments and our regular dealers," said Hart. "Our dealers know our preferences and can help ID the equipment we want within their rental fleets or for purchase. When we've presented our dealers with special needs, such as tailswing limits, outrigger requirements or gross weight limits, the dealers have been great in identifying options so we can select what best fits our project and application needs.
"Special needs on projects like this drive our requirements, rather than trying to fit in a piece of equipment just because it is on the lot or in one of our fleets already."
