Notes from Noank Jail

Notes from the Old Noank Jail                     by Ed and Lacy Johnson                     

A Brief History of  Noank’s Mosher Avenue Bridge

In the early 1900’s, electric trolley cars were the common form of public transportation. Back when Noank was a major shipbuilding center, a trolley system was initiated by Mr. Morton Plant in 1904 and  expanded as the G & S railway, running through Groton, Noank, Mystic and Stonington, to Westerly. Back then, according to local historian Stephen Jones, the only two access roads into Noank Village were via Elm Street to Main Street and Spicer Avenue to the bottom of Ward Avenue. Both of those track-level access points became restricted and are now fully closed off by the high-voltage railroad system…no more sneaking shortcuts over the tracks ! 

The trolley track route entered the village from what are now Marsh Road and Sylvan Street, across Main Street onto what became Ward Avenue and, pivoting left, on an open girder bridge over what is now the AMTRAK RR line. The trolleys then basically followed the shore northeast to Mystic, prior to the Noank-Mystic vehicle road being built. Sadly, in 1928, because motor vehicles grew in popularity, the G & S trolley went out of business. The Girder Bridge ownership was deferred to the Town of Groton, receiving little or no use, and was ultimately turned over to the State of CT.

Then, in 1936, the trolley bridge became a newly designed steel “pony through plate” girder structure for motor vehicles, creating Mosher Avenue as the primary connecting access road between Elm Street and the Village, following the old trolley tracks. The structure covered a 100 foot span and 30 foot deck width, utilizing a steel girder floor-beam system with concrete cast-in-place. Utility connections (water, power, phone & cable) were eventually carried along this structure as well to service the village.

In 1993, a needed reconstruction was effected, where alternating traffic was used, but the bridge still remained open for traffic. The inspection also indicated the structure would soon need full replacement and a February 2018  review then confirmed the 82 year old bridge was in poor condition and needed to go. In those 82 years, we had progressed from steam, to diesel-electric, to overhead electric, to high speed electric engines and trains.

Then, early in 2021, there was a major change; to remove the existing structure by sections and replace it with 4 separate pre-cast beams. The revised cost by contractor Manafort was reported as circa $7.4 million, and some local taxpayers groaned at this increase. Part of the original plan did remain unchanged. It involved building a smaller, separate overhead utility pipe bridge over the RR tracks, moving the utilities from the existing bridge into that pipe during construction, then moving the utilities back onto the new bridge upon completion.

One additional unchanged but major “fly-in-the ointment” is that this project could not interfere with existing AMTRAK train schedules. The only time span open to major work over the tracks and high-voltage lines was between 12 midnight to 6 AM. So now  the bridge remains closed to all traffic until December, assuming all goes well. With the new span in place, there will be alternating one-way traffic  to finish off details and move the utilities back onto the new span. Alternating traffic lights will be used and then the intersection is supposed to become a 3-way traffic stop for improved safety to reduce  speeding issues.

The bridge closure required a change in traffic flow, with Marsh Road as now the only village access,  affecting Terrace Avenue, Marsh Road, Sylvan Street, High Street and Main Street. A one-way counter- clockwise traffic flow has frustrated some drivers. Mercifully, summer tourist season is winding down, along with some entitled attitudes, and it will be nice when Mosher Avenue is opened up again, so that Santa Claus isn’t affected too much.

The bridge construction has drawn viewer interest, especially with the arrival of a large twin-boom crane, along with four 100 foot beams parked at Esker Point. The crane will help remove existing bridge sections and load them onto trailers near Mosher Ave. With sections removed, new ones will be placed on the RR span. One crane boom, slightly shorter, will have heavy weights suspended to act as a counter-balance. This is connected at the top to the taller boom to lift the heavy spans.  Both booms are centered as a figure “V” on one rotating platform to allow lateral movement in constant weight balance. Resembling a giant erector set, it will be an interesting “aerial ballet” to watch….if folks have nothing else to do at 3 AM….and can’t sleep anyway because of all the noise.

One nice gesture was made in the process of clearing trees to create work space just west of the bridge. Two black locust trees were removed and donated to the Mystic Seaport to be used in the restoration of the fishing schooner, L.A. Dunton.

In closing, we in the Noank Jail extend our sympathies to those folks and animal life living near the bridge, as they listen to the late night banging, clanging and train warning horns. Somebody once said that “doing something good is never very easy.” This might be one of those times…perhaps the State can offer free gift cards to our local Pearl Street liquor store for those residents…