MONROE — For the second time in as many months, the section of Route 34 that is located on a bridge positioned atop the hydroelectric Stevenson Dam will be closed to traffic for an extended period to allow maintenance to be done on the dam’s floodgates.

Leonard Greene, spokesman for FirstLight Hydro Generating Company, said June 17 that the road closure is planned to last for a total of 90 hours.

The road section atop the dam will be closed starting at 6 am on Saturday, June 27, and will continue for all of Sunday, June 28; Monday, June 29; and Tuesday, June 30.

Many Newtown motorists use the Route 34 bridge in traveling to and from the New Haven area.

“The closure and traffic detour is necessary to perform maintenance work on the ‘tainter gates’ on the Stevenson Dam,” Mr Greene said.

“In an effort to minimize the impact to the public, most of the work will be done throughout the weekend, though the closure may impact commuters during both the morning and afternoon rush hours on Monday, June 29, and Tuesday, June 30,” he said.

“If we finish the work early, we will open the bridge early, but this [90-hour closure] is the expected timeframe,” he said.

The traffic that would normally travel on the bridge atop the dam will be detoured using State Route 111, State Route 110, and Bridge Street in the City of Shelton.

Long-distance traffic is advised to take Route 8 and Interstate 84 to avoid the Stevenson Dam, Mr Greene said.

Motorists are advised to follow the posted detour signs and follow the directions of the uniformed police officers.

FirstLight had a similar 90-hour closure of the bridge atop the dam for maintenance in early May. The dam has been in service for nearly a century.

Stevenson Dam started hydroelectric operations in 1919. The dam atop the bridge is one of the few river crossings in this area.

The roadway atop the bridge is narrow by modern standards and has very tight turns at both ends of the bridge, making travel there by tractor-trailer trucks difficult.

While the state owns the Route 34 roadway positioned atop the bridge, FirstLight owns the bridge itself and the dam upon which the bridge is positioned.

The state Department of Transportation has made several attempts during the past two decades to create a modern new bridge across the Housatonic River near Stevenson Dam to replace the antiquated bridge, but for one reason or another, the project has never materialized.