Work crews will soon be seen on and around Silver Bridge in Sandy Hook, as the state Department of Transportation (DOT) begins a multimillion-dollar project to renovate and rehabilitate the decaying truss-style span that carries Glen Road over the Lake Zoar section of the Housatonic River, linking Sandy Hook to Southbury.

DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said April 7 that the bridge project technically has begun, although no workers were spotted at the bridge that day.

Soon, signs will be posted at the bridge and along Glen Road and River Road in Southbury, warning motorists that a bridge renovation project is underway.

McNamee Construction Corporation of Lincolndale, N.Y., which submitted the low bid of $4.474 million, will do the bridge work. Five bids were submitted for the project, ranging from $4.626 million to $5.362 million.

The bridge, which is painted brown and is mottled with rust stains, formerly was painted a silvery color, hence its local name, the Silver Bridge. In response to local requests, First Selectman Pat Llodra asked that DOT again paint the bridge a silvery hue, and the state agreed.

Bridge improvements will include replacement of the concrete deck, various structural steel repairs to the trusses and the floor beams, and a complete repainting. Work is scheduled to be completed in June 2016.

Mr Nursick said that temporary traffic signals will be installed to allow alternating one-way traffic to flow across the span, as needed, during the bridge repairs.

It was unclear this week when that alternating one-way traffic pattern would start at the bridge. The DOT will provide advance notice to the public warning when the alternating one-way traffic pattern will begin, Mr Nursick said.

The project will require that the bridge be completely closed to traffic for a seven-day period. The DOT will provide 30 days advance notice of that complete closure and will provide detour information to the public.

It is expected that Rochambeau Bridge on Interstate 84, which lies about 6,000 feet downriver of Silver Bridge, will serve as the detour for Silver Bridge during Silver Bridge’s complete closure. 

There are few bridge crossings of the Housatonic River in this area. The nearest upriver crossing is the Route 133 bridge, which links Brookfield to Bridgewater, and the nearest downriver crossing is the Route 34 bridge at Stevenson Dam, which links Monroe to Oxford.

The two-lane, 308-foot-long Silver Bridge is listed by DOT as “Bridge 00507.”

The DOT’s initial plans for the bridge’s improvement have been modified, reducing the estimated cost of the project from approximately $6 million.

The bridge is listed by DOT as “structurally deficient.” The span was constructed in 1936. The DOT made major improvements on the bridge in 1986.

The bridge is listed on the Connecticut Historic Bridge Inventory and is eligible for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. The span carries an estimated 3,100 vehicles daily.