CT Construction Digest Monday March 30, 2020
Work to start soon on Sunnyside Street Bridge
Matt Grahn
NORWICH — Patrick McLaughlin, director of Public works in Norwich, said it’s important for Norwich to have well-maintained bridges.
“We have to provide safe infrastructure for our residents and anyone traveling in Norwich,” he said.
McLaughlin said work on the Sunnyside Street Bridge in Yantic is expected to start on April 13. He describes the project as a rehabilitation project, preserving many of the existing features. The project cost is currently around $1.49 million. The contractor, Mattern Construction Inc., has 196 calendar days to complete the project.
When the project starts, there will be limited access to the bridge on some days. In a form handed out by McLaughin, he stated the contractor will inform residents 14 days in advance of limited access. On those days, the bridge will be closed from 9 a.m. to noon, and 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
In the event of an emergency during those hours, crews can give the contractor five minutes notice to make the bridge passable by using steel plates and wooden ramps.
Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom said to help emergency crews, an old fire engine will be kept by the bridge past the Yantic River.
“Members can respond with that vehicle there, and still provide fire service,” he said.
For the restoration work, the project will focus on repairing the parapet walls and the central bump-out walls, rehabilitating the guard towers, repaving the bridge and approach roadways, and installing a pre-cast concrete deck with a waterproofing membrane, and a new concrete sidewalk.
Nystrom said it is important to maintain the Sunnyside Street Bridge, since it is the only way to access a Yantic neighborhood from the rest of the city.
“It’s totally isolated,” he said.
Nystrom also said it was important that the project will make historically mindful repairs.
“It is a very historic structure, with all the granite used,” he said.“When the project is all done and the new surface is on the road going across the bridge, it will be just as it was.”
The Sunnyside Street Bridge isn’t the only one being worked on. Another bridge, on Route 97 over Cold Brook in Norwich, is being replaced. According to a press release from the state Department of Transportation, the project will be completed in October.
The release states that bridge is in poor condition, and “is functionally-obsolete and is considered hydraulically inadequate.”
In order to replace that bridge, that section of Route 97 is expected to close from June 9 to Aug. 24.
Along with replacing the bridge, other improvements will be made, including new drainage, new signing, the instillation of metal beam rails.
The City of Norwich is also looking forward to a larger bridge project in the future, being the replacement of the Sherman Street Bridges in 2022. The total cost of this project is $10 million, most of which will be paid by the federal government.
Beacon Falls to bond for road repairs, sewage treatment plant improvements
ANDREAS YILMA
BEACON FALLS – Town officials are looking to bond $6 million to pay for road repairs and improvements to the wastewater treatment plant.
The Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance approved separate resolutions this month to borrow $5 million to pay for road work, including storm water drainage and sewer improvements, and another $1 million to make improvements at the treatment plant.
First Selectman Gerard Smith said bonding is the best way to pay for the work.
“Bonding is the mechanism to do all capital projects,” Smith said.
Officials have been exploring how to approach a large-scale project to repair roads in town for over a year. The town hired StreetScan, Inc. of Burlington, Mass., last March to study the condition of 100 roads in town to determine what work needs to be done to which roads.
Smith said some of the money for road work, if officials get the voters’ approval to borrow the funds, would go to pay for repairs to Beacon Valley Road. The town already has $500,000 in state funds set aside to fix the road from Beacon Valley Bridge to the Naugatuck town line.
Smith said what other roads would be fixed with the $5 million is still to be determined.
The Planning and Zoning Commission and the Water Pollution Control Authority have to approve the resolutions still. Officials had hoped to send the resolutions to a vote at a town meeting in April. However, the COVID-19 outbreak stalled the process as town buildings are closed and meetings have been canceled. It’s unclear when the process will get back on track.
Matt Grahn
NORWICH — Patrick McLaughlin, director of Public works in Norwich, said it’s important for Norwich to have well-maintained bridges.
“We have to provide safe infrastructure for our residents and anyone traveling in Norwich,” he said.
McLaughlin said work on the Sunnyside Street Bridge in Yantic is expected to start on April 13. He describes the project as a rehabilitation project, preserving many of the existing features. The project cost is currently around $1.49 million. The contractor, Mattern Construction Inc., has 196 calendar days to complete the project.
When the project starts, there will be limited access to the bridge on some days. In a form handed out by McLaughin, he stated the contractor will inform residents 14 days in advance of limited access. On those days, the bridge will be closed from 9 a.m. to noon, and 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
In the event of an emergency during those hours, crews can give the contractor five minutes notice to make the bridge passable by using steel plates and wooden ramps.
Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom said to help emergency crews, an old fire engine will be kept by the bridge past the Yantic River.
“Members can respond with that vehicle there, and still provide fire service,” he said.
For the restoration work, the project will focus on repairing the parapet walls and the central bump-out walls, rehabilitating the guard towers, repaving the bridge and approach roadways, and installing a pre-cast concrete deck with a waterproofing membrane, and a new concrete sidewalk.
Nystrom said it is important to maintain the Sunnyside Street Bridge, since it is the only way to access a Yantic neighborhood from the rest of the city.
“It’s totally isolated,” he said.
Nystrom also said it was important that the project will make historically mindful repairs.
“It is a very historic structure, with all the granite used,” he said.“When the project is all done and the new surface is on the road going across the bridge, it will be just as it was.”
The Sunnyside Street Bridge isn’t the only one being worked on. Another bridge, on Route 97 over Cold Brook in Norwich, is being replaced. According to a press release from the state Department of Transportation, the project will be completed in October.
The release states that bridge is in poor condition, and “is functionally-obsolete and is considered hydraulically inadequate.”
In order to replace that bridge, that section of Route 97 is expected to close from June 9 to Aug. 24.
Along with replacing the bridge, other improvements will be made, including new drainage, new signing, the instillation of metal beam rails.
The City of Norwich is also looking forward to a larger bridge project in the future, being the replacement of the Sherman Street Bridges in 2022. The total cost of this project is $10 million, most of which will be paid by the federal government.
Beacon Falls to bond for road repairs, sewage treatment plant improvements
ANDREAS YILMA
BEACON FALLS – Town officials are looking to bond $6 million to pay for road repairs and improvements to the wastewater treatment plant.
The Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance approved separate resolutions this month to borrow $5 million to pay for road work, including storm water drainage and sewer improvements, and another $1 million to make improvements at the treatment plant.
First Selectman Gerard Smith said bonding is the best way to pay for the work.
“Bonding is the mechanism to do all capital projects,” Smith said.
Officials have been exploring how to approach a large-scale project to repair roads in town for over a year. The town hired StreetScan, Inc. of Burlington, Mass., last March to study the condition of 100 roads in town to determine what work needs to be done to which roads.
Smith said some of the money for road work, if officials get the voters’ approval to borrow the funds, would go to pay for repairs to Beacon Valley Road. The town already has $500,000 in state funds set aside to fix the road from Beacon Valley Bridge to the Naugatuck town line.
Smith said what other roads would be fixed with the $5 million is still to be determined.
The Planning and Zoning Commission and the Water Pollution Control Authority have to approve the resolutions still. Officials had hoped to send the resolutions to a vote at a town meeting in April. However, the COVID-19 outbreak stalled the process as town buildings are closed and meetings have been canceled. It’s unclear when the process will get back on track.