NORTH HAVEN

The Sackett Point Bridge reconstruction project is nearing completion with just a handful of components left to finish before work on the 16-year-old project is done, said North Haven town officials.

Andrew Bevilacqua, the town engineer, said the bridge was deemed “substantially complete” as of June 3, while “additional utility relocations, turf establishment, plantings, general site cleanup, and punch list items still remain to be completed,” he added.

The reconstruction of the Sackett Point Bridge, which serves as a heavily traveled connection on its namesake road for commuters to and from North Haven and Hamden, was first identified as a need for the former town after being deemed “structurally deficient” by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT), according to Bevilacqua. The DOT gave the bridge a score of 3 out of 10 for both the bridge deck and substructure, as well as for its susceptibility for “undermining of the foundation,” added Bevilacqua.

First Selectman Mike Freda said he recognized the importance of getting the project on track toward reconstruction, knowing that the bridge would “continue to deteriorate year after year” and was “trending towards a public safety hazard.”

Sixteen years ago, the Board of Finance (BOF) passed a bond resolution at $12 million with a guarantee that the town would be reimbursed for the project at a rate of 90%, according to Freda. The BOF’s most recent action on the financial side of the project was on Aug. 21, when it accepted a resolution “recommending an additional $3,000,000 (for an aggregate of $15,000,000) appropriation and borrowing authorization,” according to its agenda.

Freda informed The Courier that “because of cost escalations in 16 years, the project ballooned to $15 million.”

The additional $3 million allocated by the BOF represents the incremental cost of 10% which the town will have to pay against the $15 million project, 90% of which the town is already being reimbursed by the state and federal governments, said Freda.

At the Aug. 21 meeting, BOF Chair Timothy Doheny said that, “At some point in the future, we will get roughly $13.5 million of that back, and our share will be something in the range of $1.5 million.”

The $3 million passed by the BOF will go to a town meeting for official authorization.

Construction of the bridge began in spring 2020 with the Plainville-based company Manafort Brothers being the project general contractor, while there was also support from “nearly two dozen subcontractors and suppliers,” Bevilacqua told The Courier.

The project design was prepared by Dewberry Engineers, and construction inspection and administration was performed by GM2 Associates.

According to Bevilacqua, the new design of the bridge is 12 inches wider, “allowing for the addition of wider shoulders and a new pedestrian sidewalk on the south side.”

He added that the bridge was designed and built to “fully comply with current [state] DOT bridge standards” and can support vehicles up to the state legal standard, in addition to being safely used by commercial buses and trucks.

The reconstruction of the bridge on Sackett Point Road means that safety is promised for commuters across the typically busy bridge.

“It’s a heavily traveled road, [by] both vehicles for retail down on Universal Drive and 40-foot trailers for the business that require trucking,” said Freda. “North Haven citizens on the western part of town, to get to Universal Drive, if they don’t take [Interstate] 91, they’ll take State Street and take a left on Sackett Point and go that way.”