Saugatuck River Bridge

The Saugatuck River Bridge, also called the William F. Cribari Memorial Bridge, is the oldest surviving movable bridge in Connecticut. It is a metal pin-connected Pratt through truss with one approach span and one swing span. However, the swing span truss experiences very different stress distributions then standard trusses, so many of the members differ from that of a standard Pratt truss.

The first bridge was built at this location in 1807 as part of the old Connecticut Turnpike. It was replaced in 1857 with a wooden bridge, which was quickly destroyed by shipworms. The current wrought iron bridge was constructed in 1884. Early photographs of the bridge showed the sidewalk on the south side of the bridge, although it is now on the north side. This suggests that the bridge was also built for trolley tracks, and that there was a major modification of the bridge early in its life. However, this was before the Department of Transportation began record-keeping, so the exact details are unknown.

The first documented rehabilitation was in 1925, when the wooden plank deck was replaced with an open grate steel deck. In 1952, the east rest pier was strengthened by adding steel beams and H piles, and the pivot pier was encased in a metal shell and concrete to stabilize the original stone pier. In 1968, the floor beam hangers were replaced, and end floor beams were strengthened. Emergency repairs were done in 1988, including adding reinforcing plates to panel points. Additional work was done in 2018 to strengthen damaged truss members. However, this bridge is at risk for demolition and replacement.

The bridge is opened by hand by turning a large T-handled wrench. When the bridge is closing, the east end on the span passes over dolly wheels on the east rest pier, which then supports that end of the span. The west span is manually jacked into proper alignment. Hand operated gates are used to control both vehicular and pedestrian traffic during bridge openings.