Railroad Bridge Completion Awaiting Spring Thaw

By Dottie Evans

One of the first signs of spring might be the resumption of construction on the new railroad overpass at Church Hill Road, according to Newtown Director of Public Works Fred Hurley.

But since March 21 is only one week away, Mr Hurley preferred to qualify that statement by saying construction will not start “until the weather breaks.”

“I’m betting on April,” he said, “and when it happens, it’s going to happen fast. It will be fun to watch. Bang, bang, bang!” Down with the old and up with the new.

The state contractor, Mohawk Construction of Newington, and the railroad have to be totally “in synch” Mr Hurley said, because they will need to pull off the old bridge deck and put on the new deck and re-lay the train tracks in a very short period of time. The whole thing will take place over a four-day period, and traffic under the bridge will be temporarily rerouted.

Approximately two trains a day go over the bridge and they routinely carry construction materials. Stone is delivered to Danbury and lumber is hauled to the Hawleyville station where it is off-loaded to trucks and then driven to widely dispersed markets.

Although there is no passenger traffic on that line, Mr Hurley said there a definite advantage to rail traffic since it “takes some trucks off the road.”

The new bridge will cross the road a full four feet higher than the existing 12-foot, 7-inch span. That bridge has been hit by large trucks countless times over the years, usually where a driver has not read the warning signs and tries to navigate his vehicle under the bridge and then ends up having his trailer’s aluminum roof stripped off.

In addition to raising the bridge, the Department of Transportation (DOT) plans a significant widening of the road abutments underneath so there will be a shoulder and walkway on each side.

Newtown First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said Wednesday that the state had promised the bridge would be completed by December 31, 2002.

“They said, ‘Absolutely,’ it would be done. I said, ‘Have you looked out there recently? Are you seeing something I don’t see?’”

No doubt, the early winter was partially responsible for the fact that nothing has been done since October. Nevertheless, Mr Rosenthal plans to call the contractor and make sure activity resumes as soon as possible.