Politics & Government
Windsor Area Bridges on List of 'Structurally Deficient'
A report released Wednesday finds 406 bridges in Connecticut, or 1 in every 10 bridges in the state, in need of significant repair.
A federal study of bridge statistics released this week found 406 Connecticut bridges are “structurally deficient” – that is, needing significant repair, according to an article in the Greenwich Times.
That number includes several sections of Interstate 95 that carry more than 100,000 people each day, the article states, as well as numerous spots along Routes 10, 179, 44 and Interstate 84. About 5.27 million vehicles travel over the state's deficient bridges every day.
Within a 10-mile radius of Windsor, the following bridges are listed as “structurally deficient” by the advocacy group Transportation for America:
- Boston Neck Road;
- U.S. Route 5, north of I-91;
- Town Farm Road;
- West Main Street;
- Route 74, west of Route 83;
- Main Street;
- Pleasantview Drive, west of Route 83;
- Hartford Road;
- Addison Road;
- Eastern Boulevard;
- Naubuc Avenue;
- SR 500 TR 805;
- I-91 TR 840;
- SR 598 Eastbound;
- I-84 Eastbound;
- I-84 Westbound;
- I-84 TR 824;
- Route 504 Northbound on VIA;
- Prospect Avenue;
- Oakwood Avenue #2;
- Mayflower Street, between Exits 41 & 43; and
- Braeburn Road, east of Mountain Road.
The term “structurally deficient” doesn’t mean the bridge is in imminent danger, transportation officials say, rather, that an element of the bridge was given a rating of “poor” or worse, including the deck, superstructure underpinning the roadway deck or the substructure, including piers, columns and crossbars, according the article.
Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Nursick said the rating is cause for concern and is taken seriously by the state agency.
“None of our bridges is unsafe. Period,” Nursick told the New Haven Register. Currently, Nursick said, there are more than 20 bridge projects being worked on with a total cost of more than $1 billion.
Find out what's happening in Windsorwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The number of bridges with the structurally deficient rating – about 10 percent - has increased 4.1 percent since 2011, the article says, something Nursick attributes to the bridges increasing age. The average age of bridges in the state is now 52 years.
State bridges are inspected biannually, with those found to have issues are inspected more frequently.
Find out what's happening in Windsorwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Of the 407 deficient bridges in the state, 193 are maintained by towns, the article states. The state has recently increased funding to the Local Bridge Program, which currently is working on Town Bridge Road in Canton.
But as bridges are aging and those in need of maintenance increase, federal funding from the federal government has decreased, putting more of the burden on states to fund repairs, Transportation for American communications director David Goldberg told the Times.
To access an interactive database of state bridges, visit Transportation for America online.
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