Governor Ned Lamont and Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto say:
- Crews from the Connecticut Department of Transportation and contractors stayed at the site of the Fairfield Avenue Bridge throughout Friday night and continued working through the early hours of Saturday morning when additional equipment needed to remove the damaged bridge arrived.
- Crews were able to complete demolition of the bridge by 12:30 p.m. today.
- Following demolition, crews then began working to clean up all the debris and materials from the bridge off the highway. They also began making necessary repairs to the highway to ensure that it is safe for vehicular traffic.
- The Connecticut Department of Transportation estimates that the northbound lanes of I-95 will reopen to vehicles by 8 p.m. tonight (Saturday).
- All southbound lanes of the highway will remain closed to vehicles through the day on Sunday, May 5, because the pavement on this side of the highway was so damaged from the Thursday morning crash that those lanes need to be milled and repaved.
“Crews are making great progress in Norwalk and I am encouraged that we’ll have one side of I-95 open later tonight,” Governor Lamont said.
“Completely removing that bridge in less than 36 hours is an impressive feat and is credit to the hard work and dedication of the contractors and Connecticut Department of Transportation crews, who are pushing to get the entire highway fully reopened in both directions by Monday morning.”
As of 7:20 p.m. Saturday night, the entire Fairfield Avenue overpass in Norwalk had been removed.
“I continue to be thankful to the CTDOT crews and contractors who are working as hard as they can to get this highway reopened,” Commissioner Eucalitto said. “They made great progress today and I remain optimistic that we will meet our Monday morning deadline. I ask the public to remain patient with the ongoing traffic congestion and to continue using alternate routes and public transportation throughout the weekend.”
“I remain completely impressed with the response from our Norwalk Fire Department, Norwalk Police Department, and the State of Connecticut, including Governor Lamont’s Office, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the Connecticut Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and our State Police,” Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling said. “The fact that there were no injuries from the accident and that crews are working incredibly quickly to remove the bridge so we can reopen I-95 in both directions as soon as possible is a testament to Governor Lamont’s leadership and the high level of collaboration between each agency and level of government. I also want to thank our Norwalk residents and business community for their patience, as I know these temporary closures have been a complete inconvenience to their lives.”
A live video feed showing the ongoing work can be accessed at https://share.earthcam.net/CTDOTNorwalkbridge.