{
  "slug": "arrigoni-bridge",
  "title": "Arrigoni Bridge: a new river crossing",
  "towns": [
    "Middletown",
    "Portland"
  ],
  "counties": [
    "Middlesex"
  ],
  "dateRange": "1936–1999",
  "topic": "Bridges & transportation",
  "summary": "The 1938 crossing that joined Middletown and Portland above the Connecticut River.",
  "history": [
    {
      "heading": "Construction begins, 1936",
      "text": "Construction of the Arrigoni Bridge began in 1936. The city’s historical account describes work continuing nearly around the clock until the crossing opened. Its site connected Middletown’s western riverbank with Portland, making a major engineering project part of the everyday journeys between two industrial communities.",
      "source_ids": [
        "city"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "An opening in August 1938",
      "text": "The bridge opened to traffic on August 6, 1938, carrying Routes 17 and 66 across the Connecticut River. A commemorative image from the opening period presents the new crossing and its approaches. Its date identifies a moment of public celebration, rather than the construction date of every surrounding building.",
      "source_ids": [
        "city"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "A public landscape",
      "text": "Connecticut’s architectural history places the bridge within the Highway Department’s growing attention to landscape and appearance in the 1920s and 1930s. The paired arches became a prominent river landmark. The 1938 commemorative image records the crossing as a newly completed public work.",
      "source_ids": [
        "state",
        "city"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "1936",
      "event": "Construction begins.",
      "source_ids": [
        "city"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "August 6, 1938",
      "event": "The bridge opens to traffic between Middletown and Portland.",
      "source_ids": [
        "city"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "1938",
      "event": "A commemorative publication records the new crossing.",
      "source_ids": [
        "state"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "city",
      "title": "City of Middletown — Arrigoni Bridge history",
      "url": "https://www.middletownct.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5306/Arrigoni-Bridge--Bridge-Lighting-2011-PDF"
    },
    {
      "id": "state",
      "title": "Connecticut SHPO — Historic context for coastal architecture",
      "url": "https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/decd/historic-preservation/03_technical_assistance_research/research/sandy_19_rcgoodwinassociates_p13af00113_coastalarchitecturecontext.pdf"
    }
  ],
  "images": [
    {
      "id": "6964e28e7b4c97fe9e97",
      "image": "/county-images/edbfdf3c9000e75b74b1ab956e8a1d358f71231196536408003a296ace5bd8a5.jpg",
      "title": "Arrigoni Bridge — image from a commemorative booklet, circa 1938",
      "alt": "Arrigoni Bridge — image from a commemorative booklet, circa 1938",
      "date": "circa 1938",
      "credit": "Creator not identified / Wikimedia Commons",
      "creator": "Creator not identified",
      "source": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arrigoni_Bridge.jpg",
      "rights": "Public domain",
      "license": "Public domain",
      "licenseUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Public_domain",
      "kind": "photograph",
      "later": false,
      "originalCaption": "Arrigoni Bridge",
      "originalImage": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Arrigoni_Bridge.jpg"
    }
  ]
}