The Amtrak Old Saybrook – Old Lyme Bridge is the last crossing of the Connecticut River before it reaches Long Island Sound. It is a Truss bridge with a bascule span, allowing boat traffic to go through. Its tracks are owned by Amtrak and used by trains on their Northeast Corridor and Shore Line East high-speed rail lines. It can be seen from the Raymond E. Baldwin Bridge (Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1), as well as from various points on Route 154.Construction and operational historyAlso known as the Connecticut River Railroad Bridge and Connecticut River Bridge, it was built in 1907 by the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company of Chicago, for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. It replaced an earlier bridge, built in 1870. It is similar in design to the Housatonic River Railroad Bridge further south, though shorter in overall length. It also lacks the latter bridge's parallel sets of spans, although the abutments and piers were designed to carry such extra spans (for four total tracks) which were never installed at this location.The bridge underwent a structural rehabilitation in 1976, and had mechanical and electrical rehabilitation in 1981 and 1997. In 2000 the bridge experienced a major electrical failure which rendered the drawspan stuck in the open position (blocking railroad traffic). The bridge became stuck in the closed position twice in 2001. A 2006 inspection found the bridge to be structurally deficient and determined that periodic rehabilitation work was no longer sufficient to keep the century-old bridge functional.
