As woefully deficient in name as the stream over which it runs, Bridge No. 03271 on Route 302 is scheduled for a facelift by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, beginning this month. The replacement of a section of roadway spanning Route 302 near the Elm Drive intersection, and the box culvert below it, includes the construction of an abruptly ending sidewalk. Beginning at Main Street on the north side of Route 302,the sidewalk will conclude at the mouth of the rear driveway entrance to the Newtown Police Department.

Two notable pieces of property will be impacted as work on the bridge gets underway.

Ram Pasture, a Newtown landmark maintained by the Cemetery Association, is the first plot that will experience the bridge's growing pains. The grassy expanse that stretches southward from Route 302 to Hawley Road is thick with golden daffodils in spring and home to Hawley Pond, where geese flock summer to summer, hockey players take to the frozen surface in winter, and anyone wishing a relaxing vista on which to lay eyes is rewarded year around.

Historic Ram Pasture will lose eight feet-plus along the roadway to accommodate the bridge reconstruction.

The Pleasance is a sanctuary for the public, created by the Smith Family Association, LLC (the same family of The Bee Publishing Company), which developed the corner property 15 years ago. It has been a joy through the seasons for thousands of drivers - and pedestrians - passing by. An array of perennials and annuals that border the route is nurtured through the seasons, providing a burst of color to be appreciated while waiting for the traffic light to change. Shrubs and trees - including dawn redwoods, a rare deciduous conifer that was the contemporary of dinosaurs and only rediscovered in the 1940s - march from Main Street to the police driveway, shielding those within the parklike space of The Pleasance from the noise and business of the intersection and shielding those in idling cars from having to view the aesthetically challenged Town Hall South building.

By May, the planned sidewalk will require the removal of much of the roadside border of flowers and trees of The Pleasance. Across the span of The Pleasance, drivers will have full view of the Town Hall South. Trists in the gazebo will no longer be so romantic, with lines of cars and trucks in full sight, where once tall trees and shrubs provided a sense of privacy.

Imagining either of these sites razed in part by construction is an unpleasant thought.

Though having sealed a deal that demands the sidewalk, the drawn out process of two years for this project seems like enough time for DOT to rethink this design. Unlike many crossroads, the intersection of Main Street and Route 302 is an oasis of loveliness.

Ensuring the safety of the more than 9,000 vehicles that daily pass through the Main Street/Route 302 intersection is important, so upgrades to a bridge, unnamed or otherwise, is proactive. A clumsy reconfiguration of landscape and building a sidewalk of dubious usefulness is hardly an enhancement to the community, though, when it leaves a scar where beauty once bloomed.