State and federal officials officially broke ground today on a new rail project that will replace the more than 100-year-old Connecticut River Bridge connecting Old Saybrook and Old Lyme.

The new bridge will make several improvements over the original, which was built in 1907.  The project entails the construction of a two-track, electrified, and moveable bridge that is designed to last 100 years. The project, which is expected to cost $1.3 billion, is primarily financed through an $826.64 million federal grant made possible by the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The remaining cost will be split between the state of Connecticut and Amtrak.

The project is expected to support 300 jobs during the course of its construction.

“Whether it’s Walk Bridge, Devon, and now Connecticut River Bridge, it’s clear that incredible things are happening here in Connecticut, and that across the state, Connecticut’s leaders are prioritizing infrastructure investments and making the type of foundational improvements that are not just about fixing today’s problems, but about setting up the state and the country for a prosperous future,” said Stephen Gardner, CEO of Amtrak. “So it’s clear today how important projects like these are and how important passenger rail is to the future of this region.”

According to Amtrak, the new bridge is designed to support a maximum operating speed of 70 mph, a 55% increase from the current maximum speed of 45 mph. With the improvements in speed and safety, officials hope to transport twice as many travelers across the bridge as currently cross it. Maritime navigation and safety will also improve by the increased vertical clearance compared to the existing bridge.

“We know how much this infrastructure needs renewing,” said Polly Trottenberg, deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Transportation. “This bridge, which is carrying all this traffic, is not a reliable bridge right now. It gets stuck as movable bridges are wont to do. So now we have the chance to replace this project to build a better, safer bridge, one where trains can go faster.”

US Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, discussed how important infrastructure improvements are for Connecticut and for the region.

“It has been a great bridge. It was a masterpiece in its time, but its time has passed,” he said.  “And we now recognize that resilience and reliability require that it be essentially just completely rebuilt. We have to do this work in the Northeast before anybody else in the country, because we’re older. Our transportation system is older. So a lot of our infrastructure is older, which means we need to rebuild more quickly than the rest of the nation.”

US Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, praised the bipartisan infrastructure bill for providing the resources necessary for Connecticut to pursue funding for the bridge replacement.

“None of this was inevitable. This was not a foregone conclusion that we were ever going to have the resources necessary to do a project this big,” Murphy said. “We have known here in Connecticut for a very long time that this bridge was and would continue to be a liability that would hurt the growth of our state, especially as we make new investments that are drawing people and families and companies to Connecticut, as more people are vacationing here, are coming to spend time along the shoreline.”

Before the project could qualify for federal funding, matching dollars from the state had to be in place. State Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto thanked Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly for finding the funding for the project, suggesting that the federal government isn’t going to fund projects in Connecticut if the state doesn’t have the matching funds available.

“What I have been aiming to do is to fill the walls [in his DOT office] with shovels from groundbreakings,” he said. “We’re getting there. We’re doing big things. Like Senator Murphy mentioned, the federal infrastructure bill, the bipartisan infrastructure law, is allowing us to think big and do big things.”

Lamont described the project as a key to the success of not just the state, but the entire Northeast region and beyond. He also mentioned that it helps that the state has the necessary $68 million “co-pay” available to get federal approval for the project.

“It’s our future, it’s the future of our entire region. We have a lot of old infrastructure here, as you heard before. This bridge behind me goes back to the era of William Howard Taft, or as Dick and I used to call him, Willie,” he said to laughter from the crowd. “But more importantly, as Dick pointed out, transportation is as strong as the weakest link, and there are a variety of links all up and down the northeast corridor. We cannot be the weakest link. Everything we do here makes us safer and faster and we have to build back better.”

Lamont said that has special meaning having just lost a number of bridges “during the terrible flooding in the Naugatuck valley.”

Lamont also thanked the federal government for awarding the state $3 million in “quick release” funding from its Emergency Relief program to help the recovery efforts following the historic rain and flooding event on Aug. 18 in western Connecticut.

The new Connecticut River Bridge is expected to be completed in 2031.