New Haven Independent

Members of the Quinnipiac River Community Group packed into the Waucoma Yacht Club Tuesday to meet new contractors Cianbro, and hear a pledge from transportation officials to finish the bridge by February 2009.

QRCB came together when the city shut down the Ferry Street Bridge in 2002, hurling Fair Haven and the Annex into years of traffic jams and stagnant business.

Neighbors say the tiny, two-lane East Grand Avenue Bridge has borne the burnt of detour traffic. Both span the Quinnipiac River. Both have movable spans, which wear out over time.

Meanwhile, Clark Broadbent (pictured at right) said drivers stuck in rush-hour traffic are boiling with road rage.

“Someone’s gonna pull out a .38 and shoot someone, because I’ve seen that level of rage. I’ve felt that level, too “” that is why I’m not an armed person.”

After nearly four years gathering funds and plans, state and city officials kicked off construction work on the Ferry Street Bridge on Aug. 21, 2006. The city hired Cianbro to do the construction for $16.6 million.

The work’s expected to take 900 days, finishing on Feb. 5, 2009.

Daniel Stafko, a transportation engineer with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, detailed planned improvements over the next three years: a new paint job (black and mahogany); brighter lights along the side of the bridge (not the center, where cars hit them); replacing the drawbridge leaves; refurbishing the bridgekeeper’s hut. Backlit City of New Haven medallions will decorate the bridge.

City Engineer Richard Miller (pictured), who shut down the bridge due to safety reasons on Nov. 21, 2002, fielded comments and questions from the crowd.

“Shame on you!” cried a cantankerous man with a tough commute to the East Shore.

Can the project be fast-tracked? asked a local property owner, irked by traffic zipping past riverside properties. No, said Miller.

Heather Findlay (pictured) asked Miller the same question she’s been asking for four years, as trucks rumbled past her house: Is there a way to restrict traffic on the Grand Avenue Bridge?

Miller said no “” imposing weight restrictions is up to the state Department of Transportation (ConnDOT), which decided in a recent review that none were needed.

He also confirmed Findlay’s fears: That after enduring six-and-a-half years of detour traffic, “you’re going to stick us with the Grand Avenue Bridge next.”

Miller said other bridges were higher on the city’s list. But after the Ferry Street project’s done, the city would examine if the Grand Avenue Bridge needed to be shut down and repaired. “We’ll probably have to do some [repairs] in the future.”

Meanwhile, Fair Haven Heights Alderman Alex Rhodeen said he and Fair Haven Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale would give neighbors progress updates every two weeks.