the bridge, with trolleys, then heavy trucks being banned. The bridge's service life ended in 1917 with its closure. Third bridge The City of Bridgeport appointed a bridge commission to replace the aging East Washington Avenue Bridge on December 7, 1915. The commission chose a Joseph B. Strausss patented design from the Strauss Bascule Bridge Company of Chicago, Illinois. The city engineer James A. McElroy drew up the plans for the bridge's specifications and the plans were completed on February 17, 1916. The steel for the construction was ordered from the Penn Bridge Company. The project was suspended because of a dispute with the contractor and a lack of funds to erect the bridge, but in 1923 the State of Connecticut appropriated $350,000 to complete the project. Only two bids for the bridge's erection were placed, the first by Bridgeport Dry Dock and Dredging for $326,575 and the second by C. W. Blakeslee and Sons for $389,492 with estimations varying based on extra work needed. Bridgeport Dry Dock and Dredging won the contract and the materials were shipped to Bridgeport, with work beginning mid-1924. The completed bridge included an operator's house and a public toilet building. The bridge, costing over $550,000 in total, was turned over to the city on October 14, 1925. Service life The original bascule deck of creosote-impregnated yellow pine and the spruce plank sidewalks were replaced with concrete in the early 1940s. In 1960, the original fender system was replaced. In June 1968, the ornamental lamps were replaced with modern street lights. A 1979 inspection of the bridge found it listed in "poor condition" and recommended repairs totaling $820,000 to be completed by 1985. A 1980 report by the Connecticut Department of Transportation listed the East Washington Avenue bridge as 1 of the 127 bridges in "poor condition"; requiring "immediate" repair. The report defines "poor condition" as serviceable and not in danger of collapse. The Hartford Courant states that the 1979 report went unnoticed for four years and another inspection was carried out in 1982; also listing the bridge in "poor condition". After the Mianus River Bridge collapsed on June 29, 1983, a state-wide assessment of bridges began. An engineering firm, Flaherty and Giavara, reported that a critical beam had nearly rusted through, prompting the bridge's closure. Bridgeport's mayor Leonard S. Paoletta said "the bridge could [collapse] at any moment." The bridge was closed on July