Gold Star Bridge

Benesch performed a Value Engineering (VE) Study for the rehabilitation of the Gold Star Bridge, which was constructed in the 1940s and carries I-95 northbound over the Thames River. The bridge consists of 31 spans, with a total length of approximately 5,925 linear feet. The roadway width of 80 feet provides five 12-foot traffic lanes and two 10-foot shoulders. In the 1970s, the bridge underwent a major rehabilitation. The adjacent “twin” Gold Star Bridge, which carries l-95 southbound, was built during this rehabilitation project.

The proposed rehabilitation intended to extend the bridge’s service life by approximately 25 years. The scope of the rehabilitation included a complete deck replacement, steel strengthening, bearing replacement and limited painting. The proposed total construction cost for rehabilitating the longest bridge structure in Connecticut was approximately $200 million.

The VE team provided six alternative proposals and numerous design suggestions for the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s consideration. The most significant finding of the VE study, and the key to unlocking the potential savings offered by the proposals, was the potential benefit of incorporating a crossover to the southbound bridge.

The VE study was performed under Benesch’s 5-year task-based services contract to provide constructability reviews, value engineering analysis and other related tasks associated with improving the quality of contract documents as part of the Department’s Quality Assurance initiative.