Operations will be restored to busy Niantic River bridge

Maintenance crews had been manually opening twice a day to allow boats to pass through

After the Niantic River bridge’s electrical control system suffered damages, maintenance crews have been manually opening the bridge twice a day to allow boats through.

Engineers feared the bridge, which carries Route 156 over the river between Waterford and East Lyme, wouldn’t be able to open “on demand” for the duration of the summer.

But those fears were eased Tuesday after a day of troubleshooting and the discovery of an old part in a warehouse.

Department of Transportation maintenance crews have been bypassing certain electrical components to manually open the bridge twice a day at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. for boat traffic. The bridge has about a 30-foot clearance, depending on the tide, said Robert E. Obey, district engineer for DOT’s District 2 Construction. While the bulk of marine traffic typically can get through without the bridge opening, sailboats or larger commercial vessels, among others, require the bridge to be open to navigate the waterway, he said.

Contractors from Cianbro Corp. helped DOT on Tuesday assess the damage caused by some type of power surge or lightning strike that occurred about May 12, Obey said. They discovered a bad circuit board — and DOT had a spare stocked in a warehouse, he said. If it breaks again, the DOT may have to resort to searching on eBay for a replacement.

DOT plans to restore on-demand operations Wednesday.

“We’re going to put the bridge back in service and evaluate it over the next couple of weeks and then make some decisions on how to proceed,” Obey said.

“We’re going to put the bridge back in service and evaluate it the next couple of weeks and then make some decisions on how to proceed.” ROBERT E. OBEY, DISTRICT ENGINEER FOR DOT’S DISTRICT 2 CONSTRUCTION

He said DOT was fortunate to have the spare part but doesn’t have another. The bridge’s electrical components were installed in the early 1990s, so “You’re not going to find the parts you need on the shelf.”

He said that if there were an issue with the spare, the crew likely would have to go to an online auction site to find a replacement. “If it were to break tonight, maybe we’d go on eBay,” he said.

Unrelated to the power surge, DOT had been planning on a bridge rehab project in about five years that would upgrade the movable bridge, including replacing and upgrading the entire electrical control system, Obey said. Now, DOT will have to determine whether the electrical control system has the longevity and durability to last until then, or if the electrical system should be upgraded sooner than the scheduled project, he explained.

On Tuesday afternoon, DOT notified the Coast Guard and contacts within the local community of the situation.

First Selectman Mark Nickerson said he is grateful for the state’s effort to fix the issue so quickly, as the bridge is a major thoroughfare for boaters and vehicles.

State DOT Commissioner James Redeker had signed an emergency declaration to allow the specialized contractor to help DOT troubleshoot the issue, since the department doesn’t have the resources internally to alone repair the damage, Obey said.