Government

UPDATE: Jelliff Mill Bridge Open Thursday

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Update 6:45 p.m. Wednesday

The Jelliff Mill Bridge will not be closed Thursday, as originally planned, according to the town. The contractor has put off the pouring of concrete to another day, according to the Department of Public Works. Original Story

Jelliff Mill Bridge will be closed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday as workers pour the concrete deck of the replacement structure there, officials said. Only buses and emergency vehicles will be allowed to pass during that time, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer with the New Canaan Department of Public Works. Begun in March 2017, the bridge project is expected to be completed July 8, Zagarenski told NewCanaanite.com.

Government

Jelliff Mill Bridge Replacement Project To Start Next Week; Single Lane of Alternating Traffic

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One year after the state issued approval to solicit bids for the widely anticipated replacement of Jelliff Mill Bridge, town officials said that they’re poised to start work on the project next week. Motorists should expect delays as a temporary bridge sees a single lane of alternating traffic until the rebuilding project wraps up in June 2018, according to officials in the New Canaan Department of Public Works. Town officials last summer approved $3,256,467 —New Canaan will pay 20 percent or about $651,000 of that, with the state making up the balance—for a third-party contractor to perform the work. The bridge is susceptible to erosion and changes are needed, officials have said. Its replacement has been an ongoing discussion for some eight years.

Around Town

Year-Long Jelliff Mill Bridge Replacement Project To Start in September; Alternating One-Way Traffic

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Seven years after discussions started and four months after the state issued approval to solicit bids for the widely anticipated replacement of Jelliff Mill Bridge, town officials said this week that they’re poised to start work on the project. The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved a $3,256,467 —New Canaan will pay 20 percent or about $651,000 of that, with the state making up the balance—for Hudson, Mass.-based New England Infrastructure, Inc. to begin the work later this summer or early fall and wrap up in late-2017, according to officials from the Department of Public Works. “Construction will begin in 6-8 weeks,” Public Works Director Michael Pastore told NewCanaanite.com. “This will be towards the end of September.”

Because of the bridge’s susceptibility to erosion, changes are needed as soon as possible. Once construction is underway, motorists will face alternating one-way traffic at the bridge, DPW officials said.

Government

Jelliff Mill Bridge Replacement Could Start As Early As July

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Town officials this week received state approval to go out to bid on the replacement of Jelliff Mill Bridge, a widely anticipated project that could start as early as July. Plans call for installation of a temporary bridge to the south of existing structure during construction, to ensure motor vehicle traffic can cross the span in both directions simultaneously, according to Department of Public Works Assistant Director Tiger Mann. The bridge over the Noroton River, just south of Jelliff Mill Pond, is “scour critical,” Mann said—meaning its center pier is susceptible to erosion, which eventually can compromise the integrity of the bridge. Because of that, the state and federal governments will pay for 80 percent of the project—the Mariomi Road and Hickok Road bridge replacements worked the same way. Right now, Mann said, work still as to be done vis-à-vis rights-of-way, “because there are some easements that still have to be made with regard to the bridge, either a construction easement or a minor easement there, some of them for utilities, some for actual construction.”

Work could start as soon as July and would take about two years to complete, Mann said.

Around Town

Jelliff Mill Bridge Replacement Looms; Current Plan Calls for Single Lane Closure

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Town officials plan to get permits this year for a widely anticipated project to replace Jelliff Mill Bridge, with work starting as early as next spring—though it hasn’t yet been determined whether one lane or two will be closed for two years of construction. The bridge over the Noroton River, just south of Jelliff Mill Pond,  is “scour critical,” according to Department of Public Works Assistant Director Tiger Mann. A center pier is susceptible to erosion, which eventually can compromise the integrity of the bridge, and its “corrugated metal pipe culverts are rotted and do not have a bottom,” Mann said. As of now, officials plan to keep one lane of the bridge open while it’s being replaced, with a target start date of April, Mann said. (Once the town obtains permits, the project can go out to bid.)

Though they’re leaning that way now, officials also haven’t ruled out that the entire bridge could be closed for the length of the project.