After starting the process to begin design and eventual reconstruction of Saw Mill Road Bridge last year, town officials are now getting ready to work with preliminary designs and present the information to the public.

The town and the state Department of Transportation (DOT) identified the bridge as needing replacement. Town Engineer Jim Portley previously said the bridge was built in the early 1900s and the decking was last replaced in the 1960s. While the bridge is no immediate danger of collapse, Portley said the bridge is old and doesn’t meet all of the state standards.

“It is slowly deteriorating. The guardrails don’t meet any of the current safety standards, so its time has come,” he said. “It was built for a time before cars and trucks and it is just at that point where it should be replaced.”

The DOT revised safety standards for bridges following the Mianus River Bridge collapse in 1983, according to Portley. The Mianus River Bridge on I-95 collapsed when a large section of the bridge dropped out, sending cars and tractor-trailers into the river and killing three.

Portley noted that the state rates bridges every two years.

“All structures over 20 feet get inspected by the state every two years,” he said. “The important bridges, the ones that take traffic every day, are all in pretty decent shape…We have systematically gone through and replaced bridges as we needed to.”

Now Portley said the design process for the bridge is underway. Preliminary alignment has been set and additional documentation necessary to prep for final design is expected in early June. In fall 2017, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) awarded the engineering design services to HAKS Engineers and authorized the first selectman to sign an engineering services agreement with the company.

The cost to replace the bridge is estimated at $1.7 million, but the town has secured federal funding through the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act administered by the Federal Highway Administration and Connecticut DOT. Through this grant, the town would receive 80 percent reimbursement through federal aid and would have to cover the remaining 20 percent of the project. The town has identified the state’s Local Capital Improvements Projects fund to pay the town’s portion.

Design work is expected to continue through 2018 and construction is expected in 2019, but Portley said this is a big project and the best course of action would be to close the bridge completely and re-route traffic, something he said he hopes won’t be too big of an inconvenience because of Hubbard Road Bridge.

Since construction will likely affect the neighborhood, both Portley and First Selectman Matt Hoey have said it’s important to keep sharing information with the public throughout the whole process. To that end, Hoey said the town plans to hold a public information meeting, likely on Thursday, June 21.

“I said it might be a good idea to have a public information session just to let people know it is underway,” said Portley. “We wouldn’t build it until next year, but I wouldn’t want it to lose momentum…It’s never too soon to tell people what is going on.”