Southington Officials Laying Out Plans for Refurbished West Center Street Bridge

SOUTHINGTON, CT - The Conservation Commission has scheduled a site walk for July 21 to get a first-hand look at a municipal plan to rehabilitate a bridge on West Center Street over the Eight Mile River.

That walk is slated for 5 p.m. The property located adjacent to 594 West Center Street, town officials said.

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Public Works Director Keith Hayden recently presented the plan to the commission. He said the bridge has a concrete deck bridge that was never covered with a membrane and overlay and that has resulted in "a lot of spalling." The bridge is also strewn with patched potholes, he said.

"It’s gotten to the point where it is cracked all through and severely deteriorated the bridge," he told the commission.

He said the plan calls for replacing the bridge deck and the beams with the existing abutments remaining in place.

No work would take place in the river, he said. "Catchment" systems underneath the bridge will be in place as it is demolished in stages, he said.

Just more than half of the project will be funded through an $11 million road bond, Hayden said. Federal funds are taking care of the rest, he said.

Traffic flows will be maintained, he said.

After state Department of Transportation approval, the plan is to go to bid this fall, he said.