I have wanted to compile a list of all the projects that Dad was responsible for as a major steel fabricator. Dad liked to cite the number of years that he was in the business, 59 years was his latest count.
To compile this list, I was led to the basement, vault and bookcases at 90 Day Street. What I found in my search was overwhelming. There are, literally hundreds of bridges and buildings throughout the northeast that were fabricated by Dad. He was a master in his field, a teacher to all and generous in the giving of his knowledge in the business that he loved.
Seeing him in action the last seven years that I worked by his side was amazing. He could captivate a room full of engineers and designers with his knowledge, he sought out the most difficult and challenging steel fabrication projects, he built the first steel trapezoidal box girders in the country, and people in the industry from Maine to California came to him for his expertise.
From the hundreds of bridges and buildings that Dad built, I picked out just a few that I know he was especially proud of as owner of International Bridge and Iron Company (1992 through 2010) and from when he ran Standard Structural Steel Company (1961 through 1991).
Joseph Bachta’s Life’s Work
Gold Star Memorial Bridge, Groton to New London, CT (Nominated for Construction Man of the Year in 1975 by Engineering News Record for his work on this bridge)
Americas Tower, 1177 Avenue of the Americas, Manhattan, NY
85 Broad Street, Manhattan, NY
Philip Morris Building, Manhattan, NY
Trident Submarine Base, Groton, NY (weekly breakfasts with Admiral Rickover to status job)
International Place, Boston, MA
Dewey Square, Boston, MA
CT Yankee Atomic Power Plant, Haddam Neck, CT
Boston Central Artery /Tunnel “The Big Dig”, Boston, MA
Bell Atlantic Tower, Philadelphia, PA (first structure taller than the Benjamin Franklin statue)
Logan Airport Spine Truss, Boston, MA
George H Henderson Memorial Bridge, Province to East Providence, RI
Thames River Bridge, Montville, CT (to Foxwoods)
Hartford National Bank and Trust Building, Hartford, CT
Route 8 over Naugatuck River, Waterbury, CT
The Hartford Insurance Building, Hartford, CT
Interstate Highway Bridge 505 over Hoxie Gorge, Cortland, NY
Gilmore Bridge, Cambridge, MA
Bradley International Airport Roadway and Viaduct Improvements, Windsor Locks, CT
Whitestone Bridge Expressway Approach Spans, Flushing, NY
Mass Ave I-93/I-90 Interchange, Boston, MA
Founders Bridge, Hartford, CT
Floydville Rd over Salmon Brook, Granby, CT (to the airport)
I-95 Retrofit, Bridgeport, CT
Long Island RR Atlantic Avenue Viaduct, Brooklyn, NY
World Trade Center 9A Underpass, Manhattan, NY
World Trade Center Transportation Hub, Manhattan, NY (Roof and support structure in the hole left by the twin tower collapse. He also built the first 5 stories of the original twin towers, the steel that remained standing after that 9/11 attack on the USA)
And hundreds more...So, wherever you go in the Northeast, you will ride over a bridge or pass by a building that Joe Bachta built.
Not many people were worthy of carrying your briefcase, Dad. Love, Linda
