State St. Bridge Opening Delayed Until 2013

Months after the overhaul of an East Rock bridge was due to be completed, the state said it still has another year of work to do. Meanwhile, Fred Walker said business is down 15 percent at his gourmet deli, thanks to bridge work that’s turned upper State Street into a dead-end road.

The dead-end conversion took place in October 2010. That’s when the state began detouring traffic around State Street’s bridge over the Mill River.

It’s a subtle bridge, obscured and complicated by the fact that I‑91 crosses over State Street at the same point that the river passes under it. But it had been an active thoroughfare for people getting off the highway or going to or from Hamden.

The bridge was falling apart and in need of total replacement; it needed to be shut down entirely. The city initially predicted that it would reopen October of 2011. However, thanks to a mix of unforeseen circumstances and possibly faulty design, the work has been delayed by more than a year, said state Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Nursick.

The delay means the project’s $5 million pricetag is likely to double, Nursick said.

It also means another year of diminished sales for Walker’s Chestnut Fine Foods, a block from the bridge. He said his business is suffering from the decrease in traffic on State Street.

Other nearby businesses — like Universal Hotel Liquidators and Mezcal restaurant — said they’re doing fine and haven’t been affected at all by the closing.

The bridge construction is a joint project of state, city, and federal governments. The city has paid for the design work. The federal government is paying for 80 percent of the construction. The state is paying the remainder, and administering and overseeing construction.

Nursick and Dick Miller, the city engineer, this week described the project’s manifold bumps and glitches. They differed on some details.

Work at the site began in May 2009 — long before the bridge was closed — and almost immediately found a problem in the form of a 42-inch diameter water main. Nursick said this was unforeseen by the city’s design. Miller said the city knew the pipe was there, but didn’t realize it was in bad condition and needed to be fixed.

The 42-inch pipe is a critical source of water for the city. The Water Pollution Control Authority determined it needed to be relocated. That work began in June 2010 and was completed by September of the same year.

In October, the bridge was closed, and contractors began removing abutments and piers, including wooden piles under the abutments. They began sheet piling in order to create a coffer dam. That means ramming metal into the ground to create a water barrier so that the foundation of a new bridge can be put in the ground.

In February 2011, workers hit another problem. The design called for sheet piling to be installed in space already occupied by existing piles under the footings for I‑91, Nursick said. ​“Again, this probably should have been identified in the design phase.”

Work halted while the city worked changed the plans. A month later, in March 2011, work recommenced.

The most significant obstacle came up in June 2011. The contractor was excavating for the ​“east substructure” and hit upon contaminated groundwater, Nursick said. That water, which needed to be removed for work to go forward, couldn’t simply be pumped into the river, like other water from the site was.

While the city worked on another redesign, workers shifted to the west substructure — and hit upon contaminated groundwater there, too.

“This stops all operations at this point,” Nursick said. The project needed a complete redesign to handle the tainted groundwater.

The source of the contamination is unclear, Miller and Nursick said. It seems to be some kind of solvent that settled down in the water, Miller said.

Figuring out how to deal with the groundwater became a very time-consuming chore. ​“It had to be looked at very carefully,” Miller said. ​“It has taken a significant amount of time.” In addition to the redesign, the project needed a new bidding and permitting process because it had changed so significantly, Miller said. ​“It’s a very, very frustrating process.”

In order to minimize the amount of ​“dewatering” — water extraction — needed, the new plan calls for a ​“tremie pour.” That’s ​“basically concrete poured into water,” Miller said. The water that does need to be extracted will be treated on-site by ​“frac tanks,” portable water treatment units, he said.

“It remains to be seen how that will work in the end,” Miller said.

Construction is expected to re-commence this month, Nursick said. The bridge will be complete and reopen spring of 2013, ​“barring any unforeseen problems.”

Nursick said he was reluctant to point fingers over construction delays. ​“Part of this is genuinely unforeseen circumstances, and a part of it is just that the design is not up to par.”

“We have done everything we can do to keep this moving forward given the project we were handed,” Nursick said.

“You know, we tested this stuff,” Miller said. The city did all the pre-construction legwork it could have done, he said. Some things you don’t find out until you start digging.

“The bottom line is it’s very frustrating,” Miller said. ​“It’s disappointing to us. It’s disappointing to DOT. It’s disappointing to everybody.”

“I’m sure it’s agonizing for the locals,” said Nursick.

“It’s not breaking people, but it’s hurting them bad,” said Alex Marathas, speaking about businesses near the bridge. Marathas is the head of the Upper State Street Association. He said he has spoken with people at a couple of restaurants and stores who said they’ve taken a hit since the bridge closed.

“It’s affecting the business,” said Fred Walker, after bringing up loaves of bread from the basement of Chestnut Fine Foods Wednesday.

His business is down 15 percent since bridge construction began, he said. ​“I’m sure part of it is the economy,” he said. But he said he’s also heard from customers that it’s a pain to get to his deli now. They’re coming less often.

“The detour is not nice,” he said. People coming off the highway have to go around and under the highway on James Street, where it’s sometimes flooded after a heavy rain, Walker said. ​“No one wants to go under there.”

“It’s just ridiculous,” he said. ​“We feel helpless.”

Other businesses haven’t seen a problem. The Mezcal restaurant nearby is doing fine, according to waitress Erika Delgado. She said the restaurant hasn’t seen any change in business since the bridge’s been closed.

The Ralph Walker Rink, in the shadow of the overpass, saw an initial decrease in visitors, but business returned to normal after people figured out how to navigate detours to get there.

Dave White, owner of the Universal Hotel Liquidators store next door, said the bridge closing has had no effect on his business. ​“We’re pretty much a destination place.”

The surplus furniture outlet does field about 10 calls a day from people looking for directions on how to get around the closed bridge to arrive at the store. ​“Four rights,” is the standard line for people coming off the highway, White said.

The store’s parking lot is getting a lot of use, from people surprised by the dead-end. ​“If I had $10 for everyone who turned around in our driveway, I’d be a rich man,” White said.

At Chestnut Fine Foods, Walker said he’s heard no updates from DOT on the bridge’s status. He said he submitted a query on the state website back in the beginning of February and received no response.

Ben Berkowitz, the former head of the Upper State Street Association, had the same complaint. He said the state has not been communicating with the neighborhood about the project and its delays.

“Point taken,” Nursick said. ​“We’ll review our operation on our end to see if there’s anything we can do to keep the public in the loop on this.”

“They don’t even seem to be working,” Walker said, noting that nothing’s moved at the site in months. ​“The Q Bridge will be done first” before the State Street bridge.