For the 2nd year in a row, North Avenue will be closed between Cross Highway and Easton Road. The closure — announced today by the state Department of Transportation — is due to work on the Merritt Parkway bridge.
The closure begins next Monday — June 20 — and will be in effect for 2 months. The DOT says the bridge is “expected” to reopen by August 25.
Yes, this is the same project that was supposed to be finished in time for the opening of school — in 2015.
Then the target date was pushed back 10 months, to June 30, 2016.
They missed that deadline too. By at least an entire summer.
Temporary traffic lights will be useless, starting Monday. North Avenue will once again be closed.
Final completion is set for September 15.
And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.
If you’re interested, here is the full press release from DOT:
The Connecticut Department of Transportation is announcing the full closure of the North Avenue Bridge (over Route 15) beginning on June 20, 2016. The closure is necessary to facilitate ongoing construction activities. The bridge is expected to reopen by August 25, 2016.
The project consists of the full rehabilitation of the existing bridge structure, including removal of the western spandrel, concrete patch repair of the underside and surface of the bridge and full deck replacement. The purpose of the project is to improve the structural deficiencies and preserve the integrity of the bridge.
Due to numerous crashes caused by illegal oversized vehicles last year, the integrity of the temporary support system was compromised. The temporary support system was removed and a different system with greater clearance will be utilized..
CTDOT Project No. 0158-0208 was awarded to Blakeslee Arpaia Chapman, Inc. of Branford, CT on March 12, 2015, at a cost of $2,854,817.14 and is scheduled to be completed by September 15, 2016.
The “Construction Ahead” sign should actually have read “Construction Site Ahead.” There has been virtually no work done on the bridge for months.