The jury is still out on when work can start to install a temporary bridge on Smith Road in South Norfolk. Direct access for residents to Route 272 has been interrupted at Old Goshen and Smith roads since flash flooding in July 2023.
Area residents are concerned about safety issues because of the long detour to their homes. Learning that the state will not replace the bridges until more than a year from now, the selectmen began planning a temporary structure in August. First Selectman Matt Riiska had hoped to get DEEP and Army Corps of Engineers approval to start construction in early September, but the state’s reaction to recent severe flooding in southern Connecticut has delayed action by the agencies.
Riiska has a meeting with the Department of Transportation Tuesday and hopes to have more information after that. “I am pushing the health safety angle,” he said, “but the other problem right now will be getting the components we need for the work because of all the flooding elsewhere. You get more than rain when it pours.”
The River Place bridge reconstruction continues despite the flooding in southern Connecticut. That project was shut down for more than two years and work only resumed this month. Riiska said the town’s loan for its portion of the cost of the project must be renegotiated. “Because it was delayed so much, we have to close out the loan that originated with Salisbury Bank & Trust and open a new line of credit with NBT—at a higher rate of interest, of course,” he explained. Salisbury Bank was purchased last year by NBT.