On deck for several years, the state project to replace the 91 year-old Route 139 Bridge on North Branford Road is stepping up to the plate. The route affects Branford and North Branford travel. A public hearing orginally set for Feb. 8 was cancelled due to snow, so the meeting's inclement weather date, Tues. Feb. 16, 7 p.m., will be used instead. Tonight's session takes place at Branford Fire Headquarters, 45 North Main St.

As three years have passed since the state last visited Branford (in Dec. 2012) for an info session and public hearing on the project, Branford Town Engineer Janice Plaziak has requested a refresher visit.

Connecticut Dept. of Transportation (ConnDOT) officials will be in town to discuss the bridge project and residents, business owners, commuters and other interested individuals are encouraged to attend, said Plaziak.

Plaziak said ConnDOT officials will also go over at least one addition to the original plan; the need for greater utility infrastructure work in the area. The extra work will likely will add another year to the project’s life, although traffic will be able to get through via one-lane closures during utility work.

All project design plans are expected to be completed this April, with the first phase, utility work, to follow at a point that as yet has been undisclosed, said Plaziak.

“Once they got further into the design, they came to realize that there’s quite a bit of utility work that needs to happen to the project as well, so that creates a longer project duration overall,” Plaziak said. “There will be some disruption of traffic during the utility work with lane closures; and then once the utilities are all taken care of, they’d close the bridge for a construction season to replace it.”

Once the bridge is closed, traffic would be detoured over School Ground Road.

The bridge replacement is part of a multi-phase upgrade to the area’s busy roadways, which connect Branford and North Branford to Route One and Route 139. School Ground Road’s bridge was replaced in 2014 by the town in conjunction with ConnDOT’s 2014 fix to widen the road and mitigate a dangerous curve at Route 139 near School Ground Road. The state also installed a new traffic light at the intersection of Route 139 and School Ground Road, located by the Branford/North Branford town line.

Barely discernable as a bridge from the roadway, the Route 139 Bridge is located at point on the state Route 139 falling between Commercial Street and Thompson Road. Built in 1925, it’s a two-lane concrete bridge that, as of 2012, was pegged at carrying 9,400 vehicles daily. Replacement is necessary to address its deteriorating condition and to bring about fixes to address structural integrity, lane width, and flood plain overtopping issues.

The state bridge replacement project, as described in 2012, will bring in a new single span bridge, raise the deck by 3 to 3 ½ feet and widen the roadway from 30 feet to 32 feet, creating standard width lanes of two, 12-foot lanes with 12-foot shoulders.

In 2012, the project cost was set at $4 million and estimated to last about nine months’ construction time. The bridge replacement will be funded with 80 percent federal and 20 percent state money.