New railroad bridge under way

East Lyme - Welding machines hissed and sparks flew Monday as support rods- holding 700 tons of steel bridge parts in place on a barge - came down.

A large crane lifted the smaller beams first and, one by one, placed them on the same barge it stood on.

Then a second crane carried the beams high over the bay and onto the barge where they will be assembled over the next two months.

Amtrak is building a two-track, electrified, railroad bascule bridge across the Niantic River between East Lyme and Waterford, 58 feet south of its current location.

As trains rumbled past on the adjacent track Monday, each beam was slowly lowered. When it was close enough to the barge, one of the workers grabbed the line hanging from the beam to control it. Two more workers helped guide the beam into place when it was low enough to reach by hand.

The beams tilted and twisted in the wind, but the gusts were not strong enough to stop the work. A wind anemometer on one of the cranes measured the speed; anything above 15 to 20 knots would temporarily halt the unloading since the wind could catch the massive pieces of steel and spin them around.

Each move was strategic. The contractor, Cianbro/Middlesex Joint Venture Team, didn't want to move the large steel parts any more than necessary, so they had to be placed on the barge in the order they would be assembled.

And the crews only have three days to do it. If it takes longer, there will be a fee charged for delaying the shipping barge's return.

The barge carrying the major steel components for the structure that will open and close the new Niantic River Bridge left the steel fabricator, G & G Steel in Alabama, in mid-January and arrived at the Niantic project site over the weekend. The parts were bolted to the rods, which were welded onto the barge, so they would not shift during the voyage.

A crew of about a dozen headed out to the barge early Monday. They are working 12-hour shifts to ensure that the job will be finished on time.

By mid-afternoon Monday the crew was moving the larger beams that will support the railroad tracks. Their goal is to unload the biggest pieces of steel today. These pieces are oddly shaped and the center of gravity is not in the typical position, making it more of a challenge to move them.

The structure, called the lift span, and its towers will weigh 1.6 million pounds even before lead balance blocks and plates are added to act as a counterweight when the bridge opens. Some of the parts were so large they were laid on their sides for the trip to Niantic.

Peter Finch, the project manager for Amtrak, said Monday that the unloading was on schedule.

Tonight, Connecticut Light & Power will shut off the power near the work site until Wednesday morning. The electrical contractor for Amtrak will place nine poles to hold the wires that power the trains. The poles are close to the CL&P wires and the work can't be done next to live wires. CL&P notified the affected customers, Finch added.

The $125 million bridge, funded with federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Amtrak's capital budget, is expected to be complete in May 2013.

j.mcdermott@theday.com