The town project to replace the Poverty Hollow Road bridge, which crosses over the Aspetuck River near the Redding town line, has encountered some construction delays, resulting in the project probably not meeting its targeted August 15 completion date.

As viewed at the construction site on August 4, one of three segmented box culverts, which will form the bridge’s foundation, had been assembled in place, but much work still needs to be done, making it unlikely that the project will be finished by August 15. Work started on June 9.

The construction company hired by the town to build the new bridge has experienced delays in obtaining the required pre-cast concrete culvert segments from their manufacturer, Town Engineer Ronald Bolmer said August 6.

Mr Bolmer said it is thus unclear how long the bridge project’s completion may be delayed.

Nagy Brothers Construction Company Inc of Monroe is building the bridge for the town at a cost of about $343,000.

Hanson Building Products is producing the culverts for the project.

The bridge project involves installing three parallel, segmented box culverts through which the Aspetuck River will flow beneath Poverty Hollow Road.

The new bridge will be 30 feet wide, almost double the width of the span that it replaces. The new bridge will be 40 feet long.

The project will include about 290 linear feet of new paving in that area. Guardrailing and stormwater drainage structures will be installed.

During the bridge construction project, a nearby parking lot for the 15,300-acre Centennial Watershed State Forest remains open. The forest is in Newtown, Redding, Easton, and Weston.

A northern roadblock to through-traffic is positioned on Poverty Hollow Road in Newtown, just south of its intersection with Farm Meadow Road and Hopewell Road.

In Redding, a southern roadblock is located on Poverty Hollow Road, just north of its intersection with Church Hill Road.

Although there is no through-traffic on a 2.2-mile section of Poverty Hollow Road while the bridge construction is underway, local traffic is allowed in that area.

During the Poverty Hollow Road closure, through-traffic that would normally use the affected 2.2-mile section of that road is being diverted to roads including Hopewell Road in Newtown, and Hopewell Woods Road, Black Rock Turnpike, and Church Hill Road in Redding. Signs are posted to indicate the detour.

The old Poverty Hollow Road bridge did not meet modern standards. Due to its narrowness, accidents occurred in which the exterior left rear-view mirrors of approaching vehicles collided with each other as the vehicles passed in opposite directions.

Poverty Hollow Road carries a sizable volume of traffic during the morning and evening rush periods. The north-south road provides a access for Newtowners to Black Rock Turnpike (Route 58) and southern Fairfield County.