CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NEWS RELEASE 2800 BERLIN TURNPIKE P.O. BOX 317546 NEWINGTON CONNECTICUT, 06131-7546

FOR RELEASE: September 9, 2014

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS TELEPHONE: (860) 594-3062 FAX: (860) 594-3065 WEB SITE: www.ct.gov/dot

Another Successful DOT Accelerated Bridge Replacement Project: Route 17 Bridge

Over Long Hill Brook in Middletown

      The Connecticut Department of Transportation has completed another successful Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) project – this one in Middletown. The Route 17 Bridge over Long Hill Brook was replaced over the weekend and reopened nine hours ahead of schedule.

      “With a lot of pre-planning, hard work by the project personnel and support services along with good weather, Route 17 was able to reopen in time for morning commuter traffic and school buses at 6:15 a.m. Monday,” said DOT Commissioner James P. Redeker. “Nine hours may not seem like a big deal, but to commuters, school kids, emergency services and area residents, any time saved is a good thing.”

      The Commissioner noted that the contractor still has more work to do, but that will be completed using temporary daily lane closures between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

      The project is a smaller scale version of a dual I-84 highway bridge replacement project in Southington completed earlier this summer in which the old bridges were demolished and new ones, constructed adjacent to the existing bridges, were lifted into place over a single weekend.

      In Middletown, the contractor, J. Iapaluccio, Inc., closed off the section of Route 17 between Randolph Road, Route 155, and Wesleyan Hills at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 5. The original schedule called for reopening the road to traffic by 3 p.m. Monday, September 8, but the work was done and the road reopened at 6:15 a.m. 

      The project consists of the replacement of Bridge No. 02190 using a rapid construction technique to compress the time for replacement of the structure due to the high traffic volumes in the area and the associated inconvenience of long duration staged construction used in typical bridge replacement projects.  The old bridge was 16 feet long and 28 feet wide. The new box culvert that was installed over the weekend is 31 feet long and supports a 41 foot wide roadway with two 12-foot travel lanes with shoulders that will be eight to nine feet wide once all work is completed.

      United Concrete Products, Inc., fabricator of the pre-cast bridge components, did time-lapse videos of the weekend replacement with two separate view, which are available here as view 1 and view 2.

LANE CLOSURE INFO

Daily Route 17 lane closures with alternating one-way traffic can be expected between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Special Advisory

Coleman Road will remain closed at Route 17 until Monday, September 22. Residents will be able to access Route 17 from Brush Hill Road.

DOT Project No. 0082-0298 was awarded to J. Iapaluccio, Inc. of Brookfield, CT, at a cost of $1,652,051.35.  The project is being administered by the District 1 Office of Construction in Rocky Hill and is scheduled for completed in November 2014.