The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
SAVING LIVES
$37M DOT overhaul of Arrigoni Bridge approaches to add anti-jumping barriers
MIDDLETOWN — The state will soon begin a three-year project to erect an 8-foot high anti-suicide barrier along the entire length of the Charles J. Arrigoni Bridge as part of an overhaul expected to extend the span’s usability by 40 years.
The state Department of Transportation is incorporating these preventative measures, which will replace the current railings and add 3 feet of height to the current 5-foot high ones, into its upcoming rebuild of the spans’ undergirding.
The walls would consist of thin wire mesh or non-clingable wire fencing, according to the DOT.
The $37 million project on the four-lane bridge over the Connecticut River between Middletown and Portland is scheduled to start in 2019, with an anticipated completion in fall 2021. That cost does not include the price for fencing, yet to be determined by the DOT.
Police have responded to more than 80 reports of possibly suicidal people on the bridge since 2008.
“It will be difficult to defeat: Anyone with any intention of either thrill seeking or harming themself would find it extraordinarily challenging to defeat the fencing. The design makes it very hard to get over, and the height,” said DOT spokesman Kevin J. Nursick.
“A fence that’s specifically antisuicide of this caliber, I’m not sure we’ve done that before,” he said.
The Arrigoni Bridge, built in 1938, is 3,420 feet long, and consists of two three-hinged arch spans, each 600 feet long, over the river.
Safety measures such as the fence have enjoyed success in other areas, Mayor Dan Drew said in a post Saturday on his Facebook page.
The barriers will be very similar to fencing on the new Tappan Zee Bridge, or Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, in New York, which spans the Hudson River, the mayor said.
“Research shows that many suicides are impulsive. When deterred, they’re often avoided altogether,” said Drew, who added officials expect it will significantly reduce suicides from the bridge.
“I was shocked, after my election in 2011, to learn of how many people take their own lives there. You’d be shocked, too, if you knew, as very few are actually reported,” Drew said. “The police and fire departments are often up there multiple times in a week to rescue people threatening to or considering jumping.”
The main spans over the river, including the superstructure above and deck
below (which has 5-foot fencing) were rehabilitated in a “very encompassing” project completed in November 2012, Nursick said.
“When we’re rehabilitating the approach spans, the newest standards for a structure like this would be the 8-foot fencing,” along the highway lead-ups to the bridge, Nursick said. “It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to leave the main spans without the 8-foot fencing.”
The work will extend the bridge’s service life by about 40 years with routine maintenance. Traffic lanes are expected to be reduced to one lane in each direction during the deck replacement phase for about 18 months, according to the state.
“Every bridge has a life cycle. As the structure ages, the level of work being performed generally increases in intensity,” said Nursick, who likened it to someone who buys a new car. While the vehicle is in its first years, maintenance entails changing the oil, tires, brakes and other routine upkeep.
“By the time you get to 100,000 miles, you’re going
to need more of a rehabilitation project for that car — maybe get the paint fixed, get an alignment, change the transmission fluid, get the A/C serviced.
“The same thing happens with a bridge. You do the routine maintenance, but, at a certain point, overwhelmingly, farther out in the life span, you have to do something a lot more substantial like a rehabilitation or a complete replacement project,” Nursick said, to keep it safe and extend the useful life of the bridge.
“It’s costly and a lot more intensive and that’s to be expected when these bridges get to that age,” he said.
Before the project begins, the DOT agreed to install six suicide prevention call signs, three on each side of the structure.
Middletown and Portland police have often been called to the bridge for incidents involving people intending to harm themselves.
Middletown Capt. Sean Moriarty, who retired last month, very likely saved a teen from jumping off the Arrigoni Bridge, he said.
The girl was about 15, and during the course of their 15to 20-minute conversation, he convinced the girl to come down, Moriarty said.
“She was not looking too good, leaning over the side of the bridge. We just chatted for a while. She had some issues at home and she had been thinking about going over.
“Without having to use any force — just by talking and engaging with her — I was able to get her come down and get her the help she needed,” Moriarty said.
Once complete, Nursick said, the barrier will be impossible for people to breach.
“There’s no way you’re getting over it. Those bridges have concrete parapets that acts as a countermeasure for vehicles going over the bridge. On top of that wall, you have fencing, it may be 5 feet, but when it’s 5-foot fencing on top of a concrete wall it’s awfully high now.
“It’s not mountable,” Nursick said, pointing to chainlink fencing, which has openings large enough for people to get hand- and footholds.
“This stuff very narrow holes, there’s no place to get your feet or fingers into there’s no way to get over it.”