A state Department of Transportation (DOT) spokesman said that workers who are laboring at Mile Hill Road on a complex, urgent drainage repair project, which has been underway since April, are seeking to complete the project by the winter.

“We are striving to get done this winter. It will be close. We will have some cleanup in the spring, but our goal is to be open ‘full-width’ this season,” said DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick in reference to the section of Mile Hill Road within the construction zone.

Since last spring, the 500-foot-long travel section of Mile Hill Road, which lies between its intersections with Queen Street and with Mile Hill Road South, has been narrowed by concrete barrier rails to isolate traffic flow from the workers who are replacing a failed large culvert, which for decades had carried Deep Brook south-to-north about 32 feet beneath the roadway.

A collapsed 130-foot-long, six-foot-diameter corrugated-metal culvert that had carried Deep Brook is being replaced by a 168-foot-long reinforced concrete culvert. The new culvert is being assembled in 21 sections. Each eight-foot-long culvert section weighs 21,500 pounds, requiring that a large crane be used to move the culvert sections at the work site.

Mr Nursick said that the culvert sections for stage one of the two-stage construction project have been installed. By splitting the project into two construction stages, Mile Hill Road will remain open to traffic flow throughout the project. Detours will not be required.

During the past several months, east-west traffic flow through the construction zone has been positioned on the north side of the broad Mile Hill Road. When stage two of the project is underway, the traffic flow will be shifted to the south side of the roadway. To make that shift, the south side of the road will be reinforced with a soil retaining system, according to DOT.

Eversource plans to shut down electric power in overhead lines above the north side of the road on November 19. That shut down will allow construction equipment to work within ten feet of the electric lines, letting workers install the trench shoring that is required for the installation of the remaining 100 linear feet of the seven-foot-diameter culvert, according to Mr Nursick.

Mr Nursick pointed out that restoring Mile Hill Road to its original traffic-flow alignment will be difficult to achieve before local asphalt plants close for business when the cold weather season starts.

Adding to the project’s complexity, “Underground gas and sewer pipes need to be supported during trenching operations. A temporary access road and bridge [was required] from Queen Street to the [culvert] outlet endwall, since the existing dirt path and concrete bridge [in that area] cannot support equipment/materials,” he said.

While the repair project is underway, Deep Brook is being temporarily diverted westward, crossing south-to-north beneath Mile Hill Road farther to the west than previously. After the new culvert is installed, Deep Brook will be returned to its normal course beneath the street, albeit through the new culvert.

Notably, downstream of the site, Deep Brook and an adjacent section of the Pootatuck River into which Deep Brook flows, are listed by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) as one of the state’s nine Class 1 Wild Trout Management Areas. Those areas hold native brook trout, which are able to reproduce to sustain their population. That area has catch-and-release fishing regulations.

Mr Nursick said approximately $1.35 million has been spent on the drainage repair project so far. The project’s budget allows up to $3 million for the work. DOT’s initial budget for repairs, which was in effect before the full extent of the drainage problem was known, was $200,000.

Although short in length, Mile Hill Road, which is a state road, is an key east-west link in the roadways that interconnect Route 25, Route 34, and Interstate 84.