DOT Completing Design Plans For

New Bridge Near Stevenson Dam

By Andrew Gorosko

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) is refining its plans for a new Route 34 bridge across the Housatonic River to replace the narrow, deteriorated bridge atop Stevenson Dam, which links Monroe to Oxford.

“We’re well along on the final design,” DOT project manager Brian Cunningham said May 16. DOT has begun work on acquiring rights of way for the project, he said.

 DOT plans to submit designs for the bridge building project for review this summer by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). DEP will review the project’s effects on nearby wetlands and floodplains, as well as construction methods and stormwater discharge, he said.

The DEP would conduct a public hearing on the bridge building application, if formally requested. The DOT does not plan to hold any more public sessions on the bridge project, Mr Cunningham said.

Mr Cunningham said DOT may submit its plans to DEP in July. DEP is expected to take six to 12 months to review the plans.

The bridge construction project proved controversial at a 1998 DOT informational meeting in Monroe. Protestors then called for DOT to rebuild the existing deteriorated bridge that sits atop Stevenson Dam. The dam and that bridge were built in 1919.

In response to public comments on the project, DOT engineers narrowed the width of the planned bridge and altered the design to reduce the need for nearby retaining wall construction, Mr Cunningham said.

As now planned, the new span would link Monroe to Oxford about 100 yards upstream of the bridge atop Stevenson Dam that now carries Route 34 across the river.

New bridge construction will not eliminate the Monroe boat launch upriver of Stevenson Dam, Mr Cunningham said.

Besides building a curving span which crosses the river, the construction project will involve building about 2,000 feet of new approaches on each side of the bridge, he said.

The planned bridge is estimated to cost between $30 and $35 million to build, he said. When design costs are included, the project is expected to cost somewhat less than $40 million, Mr Cunningham said. Federal funds would cover 80 percent of project costs, with state funding covering the remainder.

If plans proceed on schedule, bridge construction would start in the spring of 2002 and the new bridge would be open to traffic in late 2004 or early 2005, Mr Cunningham said. Traffic would travel on the bridge atop Stevenson Dam while the new bridge is under construction. After the new bridge is built, the aging bridge on the dam would be closed to traffic, Mr Cunningham said. Northeast Generating Company owns the bridge on the hydroelectric dam.

The new two-lane bridge would have a 40-foot wide travel area, plus a 51/2 -foot wide sidewalk on the upstream side of the bridge. The design life of the structure is 50 to 75 years.

The concrete bridge deck is planned to sit 25 to 30 feet above the river water level. Four piers would support the span. The river in the area is about 60 feet deep.

The deck will sit on 120-foot-tall steel reinforced concrete piers. The piers will extend 30 feet down from the deck to the water level, 60 feet down into the river, and then 30 feet down below the riverbed into bedrock, Mr Cunningham said. The river will not be lowered to construct the bridge, he said. “We’ll work with the water level as it is,” he said.

Testing conducted last year in the area planned for bridge construction indicated the presence of PCBs, mercury, and lead in riverbed sediments, Mr Cunningham said. The contaminants do not exist at levels which would be dangerous to bridge construction workers, he said.

The DOT plans to use bridge construction techniques intended to minimize the disturbance and dispersal of those toxic substances, he said.

Past protests over the bridge construction plans have included charges that installing a new bridge would disturb toxic riverbed sediments and spread the contaminants downstream into the river impoundment below Stevenson Dam known as Lake Housatonic.

“I believe we [DOT] addressed the concerns that were raised,” Mr Cunningham said.

Opponents of constructing a new bridge have charged it would create PCB pollution hazards; increase commercial traffic in the area; result in increased development; pose unnecessary costs; adversely affect area recreation; and contaminate river fish with PCBs.