The construction may involve the replacement of the fenders protecting the bridge pier on the east side of the navigation channel. I was told these were severely damaged and removed way back around 1973, when several boxcars were let loose by vandals in Portland and ended up in the river. Penn Central owned the bridge at the time and pleaded poverty when ordered to repair the fenders. Around 1987 the bridge was purchased by the State of CT as part of the "Middletown Cluster" aquisition of the former Air Line, Valley Branch and remanants of the Berlin Branch trackage in the area. I imagine the feds, who control the waterway, started trying to get the state to enact fender replacement soon after that and only recently came to an agreement. The former and current operators of the Air Line, the former Connecticut Central and current Providence & Worcester, have not been involved in the project except for rail operations over the bridge.
