Railroad Bridge Project Due Back On Track

By Dottie Evans

When construction ceased last fall on the notoriously hazardous Church Hill Road railroad bridge overpass, the town was assured by the State Department of Transportation (DOT) that work would resume as soon as the winter weather was over.

Assuming that by May 1 winter is officially over, Newtown residents may be wondering how much longer it will be before this bridge-raising job gets done, eliminating the eyesore bridge at the eastern entrance into town.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal is also wondering where those work crews are.

“Back in the fall, the DOT told us it would be done by Christmas. By the end of November, I said, ‘Have you been out there to look at it recently? It doesn’t look very done to me!’

“I’ve been in touch with Dan Foley at DOT and he says they are waiting for the railroad to raise the tracks. I called the railroad and they said they weren’t aware the DOT was waiting on them.”

Mr Rosenthal commented that throughout the five-year history of trying to get the railroad bridge-raising project approved, it seemed no progress could be made without “getting the two parties –– the DOT and the railroad –– to sit down together in the same room.”

“Each one blames the other, it’s always the same old song,” he said of the bureaucratic snarl.

Mr Rosenthal now plans to ask state Representative Julia Wasserman to intervene so that the project can be moved along to completion as quickly as possible.

A call made Friday to Cliff Jones, DOT supervising engineer, brought other, more hopeful news about timely resumption of work as long as the railroad can free up its “skeleton” construction crew now fully occupied on another job in Massachusetts.

“The money is set aside and we’re ready to go,” Mr Jones said, and he added that work might begin as soon as June 6. “That’s the date we’re shooting for, though it’s not set in stone.

“The railroad has to raise the tracks for quite a distance on either side of the bridge,” he added, then he expects the new span to be put in place over the period of one week and two weekends.

“We’ll have the old bridge out and the new one in, and follow-up work will take from four to six weeks.”

The cleanup process will involve additional construction and repair of the surrounding area, widening and paving the roadway, as well as installing a sidewalk beneath the bridge. Finally, the grass on the embankment will be replanted where a huge crane will have been working.

“We should be out of there by the middle of July,” Mr Cliff predicted.

The cost of the Church Hill Road railroad bridge replacement project will be just over $2.7 million, 80 percent of which will be paid for through federal funds and 20 percent from state funds. The contractor is Mohawk Construction of Newington.

Traffic will be restricted on Route 6 during off-peak commuting hours while the bridge removal and replacement is in progress, and two lanes will remain open during the day throughout the duration of the project.

The new bridge will be four feet higher than the existing 12-foot, 7-inch span that has been hit by trucks countless times over the years.