Laura Glesby Photos
The bridge (above) now looks like a ship to Hercules Sessions (below).
So long predatory arachnids, hello … watercraft?
The Grand Avenue Bridge finally has its complete coat of mint green paint — and the new color has inspired some pedestrians to see poetry in their surroundings.
The newly-green bridge looks like a “ship,” said Quinnipiac Meadows resident Hercules Sessions as he walked through Quinnipiac River Park Monday.
Before, when the bridge was black, “it looked sort of like a black scorpion or a spider,” Sessions added. “Now it’s got some life to it.”
The span is closed for more than a year as it undergoes extensive renovation. The paint job, meanwhile, has fostered a newfound appreciation among some neighbors.
Pablo Giannotti and Reggie in park by the bridge.
Pablo Giannotti used to take his dog, Reggie, on walks across the Grand Avenue Bridge. Now that the bridge is closed for repairs, he has to alter their route.
Walking with Reggie through Quinnipiac River Park, Giannotti approved of the new green color. It reminds him of other industrial-era bridges, he said.
Giannotti grew up crossing the bridge to see his friends who live in Quinnipiac Meadows; he used to walk across it all the time. He didn’t mind the old color.
“Before, it was rusting at every screw,” he said. “I thought it was kind of cool.”
The green portions of the bridge are finished, according to City Engineer Giovanni Zinn. Other parts of the structure — like the base — will need to be painted later on in the construction process.
A rusting beam of the bridge in its former condition.
The city decided to paint the bridge green before going forward with other repairs, Zinn said, because the summer weather is ideal for bridge painting. Zinn estimated that the painting cost roughly $2.5 million. A New Hampshire-based subcontractor, Tri-State Painting LLC, completed the work. (Neighbors chose the color in a ranked-choice voting process.)
Next, the bridge will get new abutments to support the approach spans that lead up to the main section of the bridge on either side. New electrical and mechanical parts are currently being manufactured offsite as well. (Read more about the planned repairs here, and read about the exceptionally democratic process of determining what color to paint the bridge here.) Zinn said he expects the bridge to be under construction through the end of 2021.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Zinn said. “We appreciate everyone’s help and understanding. It’s a big detour and we’re working very hard to stay on schedule — and to have a much more reliable bridge at the end of the day.”
For now, as the bridge remains in its horizontal, closed position, the new color is the most visible change that the renovation has brought about.
Some passers-by looked for meaning in the new paint. But for Oscar Orcar, a Quinnipiac Meadows resident who comes to the river to fish whenever he has a chance (and declined to be photographed), the color of the bridge was just a color.
“I don’t really mind,” he said, dragging his fishing net along the water. He paused before adding that he would have preferred the color blue.
Thomas Breen File Photo
The bridge’s former black paint …
Laura Glesby Photo
… was first painted with a gray base …
… and then coated in green.
Thanks, Hercules, for your perceptive comment. The bridge especially looks like a ship in its current position, parallel to the shore as if it were sailing up or down the river. Let us know your insights again, when it returns to its position spanning the river. Maybe you're carrying that notebook to jot down your thoughts? Perhaps as poems, or song lyrics? I hope so.