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Amtrak bridge still stuck; repairs under way (The following article by Ethan Rouen was posted on the Day website on January 20.) NEW LONDON, Conn. -- The aging Thames River Amtrak railroad bridge has been stuck in the down position for a week, preventing some marine traffic from passage on the Thames River. Also, on Wednesday, a cable snapped on the Old Lyme railroad bridge, but Gary Kassof, Bridge Program Manager for the first Coast Guard district, said that bridge should be repaired quickly. A bearing on the Thames River bridge, which was built in 1918, cracked last Thursday, Kassof said. The replacement part needs to be built and will not be ready until the end of the month at the earliest, he said. An attempt to temporarily repair the bridge Tuesday night was thwarted by an electrical problem, but engineers attempted to weld a temporary fix again Wednesday night. Boats more than 30 feet tall are unable to pass under the bridge. A coal barge and a ferry are currently waiting to get through, Kassof said. A spokeswoman for Amtrak said after the temporary repair the bridge will open on a schedule instead of when a request is made. She said she did not have any information about scheduled openings. She also said she was not aware of problems with the Old Lyme bridge. The bascule Thames River bridge opens like a drawbridge, using a 4-million-pound counterweight to raise one end of the 188-foot span. The bridge opened 2,100 times in 2003, including 15 times a month to let submarines pass. A two-year, $45 million plan to replace the bridge is currently in jeopardy, as is much of Amtrak's $570 million plan to improve infrastructure. The rail company asked the U.S. government for $1.8 billion, but President George W. Bush has recommended giving half that amount. From the BLET site
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