The state plans to spend $9 million to repair deteriorating steel and concrete on the Commodore Hull Bridge that carries Route 8 over the Housatonic River between Derby and Shelton.
Work is due to begin in about a year and a half — and won’t impact rush hour traffic, officials from the state’s Department of Transportation said during an informational meeting on the project at Shelton City Hall.
The bridge, built in 1951, saw a major rehabilitation in the early 1990s and some minor repairs in 2011.
“Now we’re back to finish the work of that previous project,” Robert Brown, a DOT project manager, said.
The bridge carries motorists on the highway from Derby to Shelton.
The DOT officials said some work to repair fencing along the bridge’s pedestrian walkway may cause lane or shoulder closures, but not during periods of high traffic.
“If they’re up on the deck, they’ll be there during off-peak hours,” said Timothy Fields, a DOT engineer.
Though workers in 2011 replaced steel joints on the bridge, water and salt have caused the metal and concrete supporting the structure to deteriorate in spots, which will be repaired and painted.
Another problem — an “inspection catwalk” under the bridge can be accessed by anyone stupid enough to climb up to it from the Derby boat launch on the shores of the Housatonic River.
Workers will install a fence around the catwalk.
The new work will also involve repairs to how water drains off the bridge.
Prior projects involved crews cutting in “weep holes” — you can see PVC pipe sticking out of them every few feet or so along the side of the bridge — to better drain water away from the road.
Overall, the bridge was rated “satisfactory” during the DOT’s most recent biannual inspection, but some areas of its “superstructure” — i.e. the steel and concrete piers that hold it up — were rated in “serious” condition.
The “substructure” — essentially its concrete foundation — was also rated in “serious” condition.
In some spots, concrete has flaked off the supporting structure of the bridge so much that the steel rebar underneath is exposed.
The DOT honchos said that while the planned work will involve areas where there are public facilities — e.g. the boat launch in Derby, the Derby Greenway, the Shelton Riverwalk, and a skate park that sits directly underneath the bridge in Shelton — they’ll try to keep disruptions minimal.
They also said that the planned construction is within the state’s right of way for the highway, and do not anticipate any impact to homes on Shelton’s Howe Avenue Hull Street, over which the bridge sits.
Federal funds will pay for 80 percent of the $9 million project, with the state picking up the rest of the tab, according to the DOT.
The work is scheduled tentatively to begin in spring 2016 and be done by fall 2017, but may change depending on when the feds kick in their share of the funding.
Anyone who wants to submit comments to the DOT on the project can do so by emailing Fields. Refer to State Project No. 126 – 170.
