Large-Scale Route 8 Construction Starting in June

It will be best to avoid the Route 8/25 area in Bridgeport for two weeks starting on June 10.

Bridges on Route 8/25 in Bridgeport, over Lindley Street and Capitol Avenue, located approximately two miles north of Interstate 95 will be replaced.

The state Department of Transportation and contractor ABC will use prefabricated bridge units; 20 feet wide by 90-feet-long 200,000 pound structures. There are 24 such structures that will be installed over two two-week periods.

Work will start the night of June 10 with lane stripping in preparation of a lane shift the following day. There will be three lanes going northbound and two lanes southbound during the two-week phase. Southbound lanes will cross over the median onto the northbound side of the highway.

Check out full information including detour maps here.

Lindley Street will be closed intermittently between exit 4 ramps with business access to Capitol Avenue only. Capitol Avenue will also have intermittent shutdowns. The Chopsey Hill Road (exit 5) on-ramp will be closed for the entire two week period.

The two two-week periods of lane closures will save long-term headaches, said Scott Adkins, DOT project manager. If the bridges were built on site it would take two years of work for completion as opposed to four weeks of concentrated lane closures.

The project is important not only for traffic in the area, but because the DOT is using a design-built project. Normally the DOT designs 100 percent of a job and then puts it out to bid, but on this project it advanced plans about 50 percent, put the contract out to bid and the contractor completed the other half of plans and will do construction.

The method allows projects to get on the ground quicker because contractors can design as a project is being built. The ultimate goal is to save time, money and make the whole project more efficient.

It also allows contractors to introduce innovation and new ideas to a project.

It’s big in other states, many other states are doing this,” he said. “This is our first foray into design build.”