Happy ending after bridge disaster

CORNWALL — Thanksgiving came early to Cornwall — not in the form of turkey in the oven but as a bridge over a brook.An official opening of the new Lower River Road bridge over Mill Brook was arranged for Nov. 22 at noon, the last day the crew from Mohawk Northeast Inc. would be on site. They took a break from installing specially designed timber railings to receive appreciative words from First Selectman Gordon Ridgway. They’d only been on site for about a month, but their professionalism and patience in tight quarters and on a tight schedule endeared them to neighbors, business operators and town officials. Cameras were often pointed their way by tourists there for the Covered Bridge just around the corner.The crew was given 32 days to complete the work from the day the contract was signed. They came in at 26. Project Manager Roger Kane said this bridge will survive even if the rest of Cornwall is washed away. The workmen were even on the job the day after Storm Alfred dumped about 18 inches of snow on the region.Most of the residents of four homes stranded on the dead end side of Lower River Road were on hand for the ceremony of thanks — and were all smiles.“No more schlepping in groceries on foot,” Tim Locke said.He and his brother, Tony, donated a large amount of the stones used for attractive rip rap along the bottom portion of the brook. It was hauled down from land they own on Dibble Hill. As a group formed behind yellow caution tape for the ribbon cutting, Locke and equally-happy neighbor Don Bracken got in their cars — finally able to be parked in their driveways — and drove them to the bridge approach to jokingly simulate a traffic jam waiting for the bridge to open.Ridgway was anxious to thank everyone who helped take a desperate situation and turn it into not only a happy ending, but a very positive experience.He spoke of the day Tropical Storm Irene hit, Aug. 28, and of discovering a tree that had washed down the brook and jammed under the bridge.“Skip Kosciusko came down and tried to get it out. It wasn’t budging, and it quickly became apparent that the bridge was badly damaged. In true New England style, our first thought was to get some sandbags and patch it up.”But that was not going to do the trick. The more-than-100-year-old bridge, a survivor of countless river floods that regularly engulfed it, was a goner.With winter coming and months typically needed to get a bridge project off the ground, it seemed that the only option, if there even was one, was a temporary span.It was engineer David Battista, working with Kane, who suggested the right approach could get the town a better bridge, fast. With approvals needed from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), it hardly seemed doable.“When we were told we could replace it this year, all we could say was, ‘Really?’” Ridgway recalled.“We were getting responses back from state and federal officials in a couple of days,” Battista told The Journal. “It usually takes six to eight weeks to hear back. I’ve seen a lot of bridge projects, but I’ve never seen a job done this fast. It was possible because it was a small project, the town authorized letting them work two shifts per day, we had amazing cooperation from the state and feds and there was an incentive to finish at least on schedule.”The incentive was an award of $500 for each day the project was completed ahead, or a $500 penalty for days beyond the Dec. 10 deadline. Mohawk will earn an extra $13,000 on its $497,000 bid, which was by far the lowest of several bids.“It started out rough,” Ridgway said. “We had two major storms that came after the first one. It had its moments, but it was fun to watch the progress. People would come by all the time. Russ Sawicki [from the Wandering Moose Café] started out bringing doughnut holes, then doughnuts every day.”He added that, despite the bad press CL&P has gotten following the nor’easter, they were very quick in relocating power lines so the bridge work could begin.“This bridge may not become as famous as the Covered Bridge, but people will be checking it out.”“What you won’t see on the plans is the fish ladder,” Kane said while walking the site prior to the ceremony.In the short distance between the bridge and the Housatonic River is a relatively elaborate channel lined with stones. Once work was underway, Kane worked with the contractor and the DEEP to make improvements to the brook and its confluence with the river. The fish ladder is a series of steps that allow fish swimming into the brook against the current and gravity a chance to rest. A deep, cold water pool was dug under the bridge as well. There have already been reports of trout in the brook.The one-lane span is an 18-inch thick slab of reinforced paving that will be very low-maintenance and need no painting or cleaning. It is a short drop to the brook, but from the road surface it is 40 feet down to where pilings were drilled into bedrock. At the town’s request, Mohawk installed a conduit to allow the potential to bury utility lines to the road.The project is expected to cost about $600,000. FEMA will pay for 75 percent. In all, a pretty good deal. Tim Locke summed it up best.“Sometimes it takes a disaster and a clean slate to make things better.”