Party on I-95 bridge to celebrate grand opening

Ralph Chiaramonte, of East Haven, a member of Laborers Local 455, walks across the new Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge Friday, June 22, 2012 during a ribbon cutting ceremony in New Haven, Conn. Ralph Chiaramonte, of East Haven, a member of Laborers Local 455, walks across the new Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge Friday, June 22, 2012 during a ribbon cutting ceremony in New Haven, Conn. Photo: Autumn Driscoll / Autumn Driscoll Buy photo Photo: Autumn Driscoll / Autumn Driscoll Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Party on I-95 bridge to celebrate grand opening 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

We’re invited to a bridge party!

No, not a card game, but an event that will celebrate the grand opening of the southbound lanes of I-95’s Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in New Haven. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19 you will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to walk on the southbound bridge before it’s open for traffic this fall.

The state Department of Transportation says there will “family-friendly activities, refreshments, stunning views and great photo opportunities.” DOT is also hoping to start a social media buzz by encouraging all participants to share their photos from the event by tagging @QBridgeProgram on Twitter and #IwalkedtheQ. It also has its own Facebook page.

Access to the bridge will be provided at the intersection of Hamilton Street and Ives Place. Pedestrians and bicycles will be allowed on the bridgem but no motor vehicles. The event will span 1.5 miles on the new southbound Q-Bridge and the I-95 southbound off-ramp to Hamilton Street. Staff will be onsite to assist.

The bridge is named in memory of the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. In June 2012, several Pearl Harbor survivors attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the bridge. Four of the six surviving Connecticut Pearl Harbor attack veterans were there to witness the event and participate in the wreath-laying ceremony. There were 17 men from Connecticut who died in the “Day of Infamy” attack.

The 10-lane bridge (five lanes in both directions) is the main crossing of New Haven Harbor. The bridge is the first “extradosed” bridge in the United States. The extradosed system is a hybrid design that is a combination of a concrete cable stressed girder bridge (such as the Baldwin Bridge on I-95 over the Connecticut River), and a cable stayed bridge (like the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston). It was built to last a century, engineers say.

The anchor piers, at the ends of the spans, have the wording “Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge” and “December 7, 1941” in gold leaf formed onto the concrete as a memorial designation..The towers in the center of the bridge resemble smokestacks on ships to pay tribute to the vessels that were sunk in Pearl Harbor.

The orginal bridge was constructed in 1957. About 140,000 vehicles per day pass over the bridge each day, more than three times the 40,000 vehicles per day it was designed for. The bridge project is corts $554 million and the interchange of I-95, I-95 and Route 34 is is another $453.7 million. The DOT says that the new bridge is part of the 16-year, $2 billion I-95 New Haven Harbor Crossing Corridor Improvement Program, by far the largest highway project ever undertaken by the state.