CIVIC AMENTITIES

A Bridge To Remember

West Haven connects beaches and helps flooding issue in one project

Of all of Connecticut’s coastline, no municipality has nearly as much public beach space as West Haven. Home to the longest stretch of publicly accessible sandy shores in Connecticut, residents and visitors can take in the sun all summer. Now, thanks to a renovated bridge, they can enjoy a better scenic walk from the Sandy Point Bird Sanctuary to South Street Beach.

Replacing a concrete footbridge that was nearly 100 years old, a new prefabricated aluminum bridge will now Connecticut the two parts of the beach without having to go to the street-facing sidewalk. It will be the first time in over 20 years that pedestrians will be able to cross the Cove River.

No ordinary bridge, this bridge mimics the nearby Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in its ability to light up with a full spectrum of colors. During the ribbon cutting ceremony, the LEDs illuminated in red and white – with a special shoutout to Mayor Nancy Rossi’s favorite color purple.

The project was paid for with a $3.9 million state grant, and involved the Frankson Fence Co. of North Haven, the GatorBridge of Sanford, Florida, and Apex Lighting Solutions of Wethersfield.

“It is our residents who never lose their commitment and passion for West Haven,” State Representative Dorinda Borer said in a press release.

“From the day this project was announced, the excitement never wavered. This project is a win-win on so many levels. It provides for functionality of water flow, accessibility, connectivity, a complement to our aesthetics and is very environmentally focused.”

In addition to its functionality, it also serves to beautify an area that was deteriorating from multiple storms and other issues with the flood gates. Newer, enhanced flood gates that are future parts of this project will help safekeep investments that are prone to flooding like the playing fields at West Haven High School that had seen damage after Superstorm Sandy.

And importantly, the bridge connects the Charlotte Bacon “Where Angels Play” playground at Sea Bluff Beach to the Vietnam Memorial on the Savin Rock side. Each of the playgrounds from the Where Angels Play foundation memorializes a student or teacher that was slain at the Sandy Hook School in a town that was affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The beach is a crucial part of West Haven’s story. People go there to have fun and play during the summer, to get in exercise, and to remember. In the same way that this bridge will connect the two sides of the beach, it will connect the past and the future and the many residents together to enjoy this natural resource.