Date: Fri 01-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

DOT-Church-Hill-Road-Bridge

Full Text:

State Stirs To Action (Again) On Church Hill Road Bridge

(with photo)

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Town officials say the replacement of the railroad bridge on Church Hill Road

can't wait any longer. Trailer trucks by the dozens slam into the 12-foot,

7-inch high bridge each year, and they fear one day an incident there could

end up being more tragic than a simple traffic backup.

Almost weekly, the trucks, trying to reach I-84 by way of Church Hill Road

(Route 6) to Exit 10, sheer off the tops of their trailers on the low-hanging

structure.

On Monday, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal and State Rep Julia Wasserman met

with state Department of Transportation (DOT) officials in an effort to put

plans to replace the bridge back on the "front burner."

"I think we impressed upon them that this must be resolved. We can't wait any

longer," said Mr Rosenthal. "The state did feel that something must be done."

But how soon? In 1997, 33 trucks fell victim to the bridge and as the first

selectman pointed out, the situation is only getting worse.

The DOT had a plan in place to raise the bridge back in 1996, but the

blueprint was put on hold after the state claimed it was unable to work out a

solution with the Housatonic Railroad Company, which owns the bridge. It hoped

the bypass road to be built through Fairfield Hills would reduce the number of

trucks going down Church Hill Road.

On Monday, town officials told the DOT not to expect the bypass road to be the

final solution to the Church Hill Road bridge problem. Therefore, according to

Timothy Gaffey, DOT project manager, the project has been reactivated after

being dormant for two years.

"We're going to re-look at this. We have a transportation problem there, so we

are going to make some arrangements," he said Tuesday.

Those arrangements are not easy ones. The bridge is owned by the railroad

company and the project, which will cost a lot more than the original $2.5

million that was budgeted, will come out of the pockets of both the state and

local governments. Mr Gaffey said his department is waiting for Congressional

authorization of the next federal highway bill, which is forthcoming.

John Hanlon, president of Housatonic Railroad, said his company is more than

willing to work with the town and state to get the issue resolved.

"We're here and ready to go," he said Wednesday. "We agreed to do it way back

when. It's really not a big deal."

The project, as proposed by the state, will be expensive and time consuming

since the railroad company would be forced to relocate its existing tracks,

install a temporary bridge, remove the old bridge, then install a new one. The

railroad would also have to "move out the difference in elevation" along the

tracks about half a mile in each direction.

Mr Hanlon said Conrail has agreed to simply raise the bridge two feet, which

would save a lot of money.

"They're talking millions of bucks for a new bridge," Mr Hanlon said.

Leaving the bridge intact and lowering the level of the road has been ruled

out since officials fear digging underneath the more than 70-year-old bridge

would only weaken it.

Mr Gaffey said the DOT is struggling with a lack of money to address many

critical highway and bridge reconstruction needs throughout the state. The

state has been reluctant to pour its own money into the project since it does

not even own the bridge.

In April 1996, Mr Gaffey and other DOT representatives held a public meeting

in Newtown on the state's plans to replace the bridge. They brought a

computer-generated photo of what the proposed $2.5 million bridge was expected

to look like and preliminary drawings showing construction plans. At the time,

Mr Gaffey estimated that bridge design would be completed in July of 1996, the

project would go out to bid in December 1996, and the construction would begin

in spring 1997.