Rehabilitation of I-84 Bridges over Housatonic River

Heavy/Civil Infrastructure, Bridges
Bid Build
Newtown - Southbury, CT
Connecticut Department of Transportation
Award Winner

The project consisted of the rehabilitation of Bridges 01218 and 04180 (collectively called the “Rochambeau Bridge”), which carry I-84 over the Housatonic River.

The existing bridges had extra-wide shoulders, so there was sufficient room to place bidirectional traffic, with two lanes in each direction, on one of the bridges while the other bridge was reconstructed. Once the new I-84 westbound bridge was completed, traffic was shifted onto the new bridge while the I-84 eastbound bridge was reconstructed, with temporary crossovers built in a similar manner, in the median of I-84.

Work in the river will took place using work trestles and barges. A minimum 75’ channel width for boaters was maintained at all times, except for major demolition and steel erection work, which required the advanced approval of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), US Coast Guard and the Lake Zoar Authority.

2023 – Safety Recognition

2023 – Excellence in Construction

By the Numbers

6.6K CY
Cast-in-Place Concrete

1.2M lbs
Reinforcing Steel

6M lbs
Structural Steel

$56M
Project Value

Scope of Work
  • Construction of access roads
  • Installation of platform trestles
  • Install highway cross overs for staged construction
  • Superstructure demolition
  • Replacement of the existing superstructures with new steel multi-girder superstructures
  • Construction of pier caps extensions
  • Concrete abutment modifications
  • Milling and paving
  • Pavement marking and guardrail upgrades
Unique Challenges
  • To minimize impact to the public, each structure was constructed independently and maintained two lanes of traffic in each direction
  • Lane closures only occurred at night
  • Reconstruction required work trestle and barges for work over the water