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09/26/2018 09:37 AMThe 80-year-old bridge over the Menunketesuck River on Kelseytown Road has reached the end of its useful life, and residents got their first look at the plans for replacing it—and the plans for the months of re-routed traffic—at a public hearing on Sept. 20.
According to representatives of engineering firm GM2 Associates, the total project is estimated to cost $3.3 million, but the town’s share of the cost is anticipated to be about $660,000. The majority of the project will be paid through the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) Local Bridge Program.
Construction on the bridge is projected to start in April 2020, with construction to take six to eight months and be completed by fall 2020. During construction, the road will be closed just east of its intersection with Glenwood and Ironworks roads with a detour via Glenwood Road and Ninety Rod Road.
DOT conducts inspections on bridges every two year. During one of these inspections in 2016, DOT found that the bridge was in poor condition. In September 2016, Public Works Director Peter Neff estimated at the time that it would take two to three years for designs for the bridge to be ready.
The original bridge, built in 1938, is about 38 feet long and 24 feet in width from curb to curb. The inspection found among other issues, that the abutment footing in the river was exposed.
The new plan calls for the new bridge to expand to 67 feet long and 26 feet wide from curb to curb. The GM2 Associates representatives said that the new bridge will have a lifespan of 75 years, and will maintain some of the stone aesthetics from the current bridge.
While the presentation said that a goal of construction would be minimizing environmental impact and that no construction would take place in the river, the representatives from GM2 said more forums with the Inland Wetland Commission would be planned at a later date.