Further Delays on Walnut Hill Road Bridge Project

Crews are still at work on the reconstruction of the bridge over Limkiln Brook at the intersection of Walnut Hill Road and Taylor Road, however more delays continue to push the reopening date.

First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker released the following note Saturday evening:

At a Friday morning conference between town officials, state Department of Transportation engineers, contractor and project manager, the Town was informed that it will not be possible to reopen the Walnut Hill Bridge to traffic before the end of the month, as earlier predicted.  

The project engineers noted that the long winter, heavy snow and ongoing spring rains have caused the moisture content in the base material of the roadway approaches to be too high to allow proper compaction, a step that must be completed prior to paving. About 350 tons of base material must still to be moved into place and compacted prior to final paving, a process that cannot be completed in wet weather.

Following the conference, a ranking official with lead contractor J. Iapaluccio, Inc. sent the following message to the First Selectman's office:

"The weather has continued to create delays due to the excessive moisture content in the process aggregate and sub base material. The rain water collects on the surface and ultimately saturates the sub base material. The excess moisture prevents the ability to compact the sub base and process to the required density. As soon as the sub base material dries out, we will continue to compact the sub base to the proper density and bring in additional process to form the road base prior to paving. We intend to continue road construction and material placement Tuesday morning."