As you drive into Middletown on Route 9, you can’t miss seeing it. It rises overhead in a majestic steel arch across the Connecticut River. It’s Connecticut’s largest bridge– a 600 foot metal truss bridge that lifts Route 66 and Route 17 over the river, connecting Main Street in Middletown with Main Street in Portland. It carries about 34,000 cars every day. It was built between 1936 and 1938 for $ 3.5 million. With its sweeping steel arches, it’s become quite the local landmark, in fact it was named the country’s «Most Beautiful Steel Bridge» in the large bridge category in a 1938 competition sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction And who is it’s namesake? Charles J. Arrigoni was a state legislator who was an advocate of building the bridge. There are plans on the drawing board right now to light up the bridge with a lighting system that can change colors. So maybe if you were driving to Middletown on a beautiful July evening, you’d see this iconic bridge tricked out in red, white, and blue. I’m sure Charles would be proud of that!
