The construction of State Street’s Mill River bridge has Ned Pocengal picturing cracks in his plaster.
Already, Pocengal said at a meeting about the bridge Monday night, the 18-wheelers going up and down Willow Street are “literally shaking my house apart.” Soon more drivers will be looking for detours.
Pocengal was one of a dozen East Rock neighbors that showed up at the monthly East Rock Management Team meeting to hear a presentation about State Street bridge construction.
City Engineer Dick Miller (at right in photo) said that the replacement of the bridge over the Mill River, under the I‑91 overpass near the corner of James Street, will take two years, including one year in which the bridge will be shut down.
Miller showed locals how traffic will be detoured through side streets during the year that the bridge is impassable, starting this summer.
Officially, traffic won’t be rerouted onto Willow Street. But drivers will undoubtedly exploit any available avenues to get around the blocked-off bridge. This could mean more noise and cracks for Pocengal, who has already taken extra measures to insulate his house against traffic noise.
Drivers
The State Street bridge, which was built in the 1920s, is now in “serious condition,” said Miller, standing to address the East Rockers assembled in the East Rock school library. The problem is that it’s built on piles. The “scouring action” of the tidal Mill River has exposed the piles to damage by little, destructive marine creatures. Without a complete replacement of the piles, they would eventually fail and the bridge would collapse.
The city’s estimate for the project cost was $7 million. The winning bid of $5.3 million was placed by Fucci Construction, a local company working on Hillhouse Avenue and Prospect Street. “He does good work,” said Miller.
“It’s not a cheap fix,” Miller said. But the good news, he went on, is that the city has already paid its 10 percent of project costs. The state and federal government are footing the rest of the bill.
The bad news is that “we need to take the bridge totally out of service,” Miller said. The bridge replacement will take two years overall, and the bridge will be out of service for one year.
“So what happens to the traffic?” Miller asked rhetorically, before unveiling the detour route. The city plans to divert southbound traffic around the bridge by sending cars left on James Street, right on Humphrey Street, and then right on East Street, which will take them back to State Street. Trucks over 14 feet tall will be instructed to take a longer route —down Blatchley Avenue — to avoid two overpasses.
Asked if traffic might choose to get on I‑91 to avoid the blocked bridge, Miller said that he anticipates that this will happen. But he couldn’t officially recommend that since the federal government doesn’t allow detours onto highways.
“Obviously we have to send traffic down East Street,” said East Rock Management Team Secretary Debbie Rossi. “But what can we do to make sure that people don’t get killed” at the intersection of East and State streets? East Street meets State Street at an oblique angle, providing for a dangerous interchange.
“We’ll have to look at how the the traffic pattern actually emerges,” Miller said. “People will find the easiest route.”
Miller said that the city will be making adjustments to traffic signals on detour streets if necessary as their traffic volume changes.
Ned Pocengal, who lives near the corner of Willow and Orange Streets spoke up, expressing concern about increased traffic on Willow Street. “I have 18 wheelers coming down there literally shaking my house apart,” he said. Pocengal later explained that his house has cracks in ceiling and wall plaster because of vibrations from trucks going by.
“We did not detour traffic down Willow,” Miller responded. “We chose roads with minimal amounts of residential on them.”
Still, houses or not, traffic will go where the streets are open.
“Nash Street is what I’d do personally,” said safe streets activist Mark Abraham, talking about detour routes after the meeting. “I’d go down Willow.”
“It wouldn’t be very pleasant,” Pocengal said of the possibility of an increase in traffic on Willow Street. Pocengal, who has owned his Willow Street home since 2000, is concerned that vehicles will choose his street as their detour route even though it’s not the official path.
“Trucks heading south are just going to turn right and head out to Whitney,” he said.
Pocengal said that he recently spent $1,000 on storm windows for his already double-paned windows, to try to insulate against the noise of traffic. The homeowner said that although he likes his neighborhood and doesn’t want to move, he recently looked at a house for sale in West Haven, trying to get away from his traffic troubles on Willow Street.
Walkers and Bikers
More cars on other streets mean fewer cars on State Street, and a potential for a drop in drive-in customers to upper State Street businesses. But local Alderman Roland Lemar (at left in top photo) said he sees the bridge construction as a chance to bring more pedestrians to upper State Street.
Besides, “most people on State Street don’t use that section” around the bridge, Lemar said after the meeting.
Lemar said he hopes to take advantage of the bridge being out to hold local events — like the State Street Fall Festival — in the street itself.
“It’s an opportunity to re-vision what we want the street to look like,” Lemar said.
Mark Abraham saw opportunity in the bridge project as well. He wanted to know if the new bridge would have room for bikes.
“We will look at trying to stripe [the bridge] so it can do that,” Miller told him. “I’ll try to make sure that happens.”
HA!! You East Rockers crack me up! The bridge will only be out for ONE year!!! Deal. The bridge has to get fixed. We in Fair Haven had to deal with the situation you are facing for 5 years and will be facing it again when the Grand Ave Bridge needs repair.
AS far as tractor trailers...yup, we deal with that too with our antique homes. At lease your roads aren't built on landfill like ours.
Police enforcement of speed limits will help, IF you can get it.
Good luck...but seriously its only a year