If you follow the Old Bridge Road in Old Lyme—and somehow, I managed not to do this for about 50 years—you’ll be compelled to stop at the site of the first car and trolley bridge connecting Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. Just south of that site is the location of the 1948 Baldwin Bridge. And south of that is the current bridge carrying Rt. 95.

Someday there will be another shoreline marker for the new railroad bridge south of the current highway bridge. Today’s RR bridge is 117-years-old.  The replacement is expected to cost $1.3 billion and be finished in 2031. I know the guys who built the 1907 bridge could do the job faster and cheaper. After all, they built it in 27 months.