FALLS VILLAGE — Who would have thought the shutting down of a tiny iron bridge would have such a far-reaching impact?
The temporary closure of a 100-year-old bridge over the Housatonic River linking Falls Village with the Amesville section of Salisbury has affected the few businesses that remain downtown, has disrupted the travel of residents who use the bridge regularly and increased the travel time for emergency personnel responding to Amesville.
The bridge was closed last month.
A new weight limit in advance of a construction project on the Route 7 bridge near Housatonic Valley Regional High School has complicated the situation, especially for emergency responders.
Another five to six weeks
Salisbury First Selectman Curtis Rand said the repairs to the Amesville bridge should begin soon. One involves the replacement of six decking panels on the surface of the one-lane bridge by the town highway crew and a town contractor. The other needed repair, the replacement of steel gussets by the state, necessitated the closing of the bridge last month.
The material for the town’s portion of the repair has been ordered and should be available within two weeks. After the completion of that project, the DOT will send in its contractor to repair the gussets.
Asked when the bridge will be reopened, Rand replied in an e-mail, "My guess is five to six weeks in the best case, maybe a little longer if the inevitable glitches arise."
Disruption to emergency service
Falls Village Fire Chief David Seney said his volunteer department is the designated first responder to most of Amesville since the downtown Falls Village firehouse is much closer than the Lakeville Hose Company’s headquarters.
But Seney estimates the closure of the bridge will add another 10 minutes to response times to Amesville. The route to Amesville will now take emergency vehicles onto Route 7 north, over the bridge near the high school, onto Route 112 in Lime Rock and north onto Dugway Road.
However, the Route 7 bridge, which is in the early stages of reconstruction, now has a 15-ton limit. Engine 6 of the Falls Village Fire Department weighs a little more than 15 tons and Engine 7 weighs almost 15 tons. Currently in order to get to Amesville, Engine 6 would have to make a time-consuming detour to Route 126, onto Route 44 and over Dutcher’s Bridge between Salisbury and North Canaan to the mostly unpaved Housatonic River Road. If Lakeville were called to assist in a fire in Falls Village, the hose company would have to make the same detour with its heaviest trucks, including the tanker that often supports the tankerless Falls Village department.
"It’s a concern," Seney said.
He added that there are two emergency medical technicians and one medical response technician who volunteer for Falls Village but live on the Amesville side. If available, they could respond quickly with their personal vehicles, which contain emergency equipment such as defibrillators and oxygen tanks.
Seney said he is working with the state Department of Transportation to allow fire trucks that barely exceed the 15-ton limit to travel over the Route 7 bridge in emergencies.
Businesses are adjusting
Ann Bidou, co-owner with her husband Greg of Toymakers Cafe, said that after the June 13 closing, business declined significantly, although she would not venture a guess as to how much.
"So far we’re still paying the bills," she said.
At first, regular customers from Amesville who previously patronized Toymakers as much as four times a week seemed to reduce their number of weekly visits to two. But after a period of a couple of weeks, business picked up again to an almost normal level.
"Initially it affected us," Bidou added. "But people are getting used to the longer way down Route 7."
Sweet William’s Bakery on Main Street has seen a decline in business of perhaps 5 to 10 percent since the bridge closing, reports owner Jason Young, mostly because of the inconvenience of the longer route through Dugway Road into Lime Rock and south on Route 7 to downtown Falls Village.
"It makes it more challenging," said Young. "Some of my regulars I don’t see as often. People who popped in before, now they think twice."
Allyn Bierce, who owns the Falls Village Package Store, said his business is off "only a small amount." He suspects most of his lost business is from patrons of Lime Rock Park who used to drive to his liquor store using Dugway Road between Lime Rock and Amesville.
Jacob’s Garage, an automotive repair shop next door to the package store, has not seen a decline in volume among its loyal customer base. However, co-owner Judy Jacobs reports that the bridge closing has strained the garage’s policy of offering free pickup and delivery of serviced vehicles to customers.
"Mostly, it’s a huge inconvenience," said Jacobs. "It’s made it much more costly in terms of time and money."
Jacobs says she has noticed more people walking across the bridge, which remains open to pedestrian traffic. But she’s also observed "a big drop-off in day hikers" using the Appalachian Trail, which goes right over the Amesville bridge.
"I feel bad," added Jacobs. "It’s almost as if the people in Amesville are cut off. I just wish the bridge would hurry up and open."
Pete Rich is president of the Amesville Association, a civic watchdog and community group whose duties include planting bulbs on traffic islands and picking up roadside litter. He said the closure has caused an inconvenience to Amesville residents, but that so far this summer the quiet and close-knit hamlet has been even quieter than usual. And there’s even less litter.
"It takes a lot longer to get a cookie and a coffee than it used to," explained Rich. "But it has kept things very quiet. We love our bridge but it’s an interesting trade-off."
