More lane closures as bridge work nears end

Major work on southbound project on Gold Star approaches completion over the next three weeks

As crews work to finish the last major construction tasks on the southbound span of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge between Groton and New London, the state Department of Transportation said temporary lane closures will be needed for the next three weeks.

The DOT also announced that the pathway for pedestrians and cyclists on the southbound span is slated to re-open by Saturday. The shuttle bus service operated by Southeast Area Transit District during the sidewalk repair project, will run through Friday, which will be its last day of service, said Keith Schoppe, project engineer with the DOT.

Temporary daytime and nighttime lane closures on the southbound bridge will occur this week and over the next two weeks as crews remove concrete barriers, re-stripe the bridge for the permanent traffic alignment, and install overhead signs, said Schoppe. Painting work needs to be done during the daytime in some instances due to temperature requirements.

The DOT is urging people to drive safely and follow signs, Schoppe said. Nighttime and daytime lane closures will be posted on message boards. The DOT will also use construction signs, traffic drums, and traffic safety devices, according to a DOT news release, and “there will be a heavy State Police presence to facilitate the safe maintenance and protection of traffic.”

This week’s work schedule calls for removing concrete barriers and starting to lay out the line striping in preparation to shift traffic to the right side of the bridge by the end of next week, he said. The DOT anticipates both daytime and nighttime lane closures this week through Wednesday,

and then nighttime closures only on Thursday and Friday as crews work closer to Bridge Street.

The work schedule depends on the weather, he said.

Next week, crews are scheduled to complete the permanent line striping on the right side of the bridge behind traffic drums, he said. Traffic will be shifted to the right toward the end of the week, tentatively and weather permitting on Thursday night, he said.

The third week will entail removing pavement markings and installing new ones on the left side of the bridge, with the permanent alignment of all lanes expected to be in place around Nov. 13. Once the new line striping is in place, crews will then begin the work of installing new signs on the already installed new sign structures and removing the old sign structures. The sign-related work will require nighttime lane closures and is expected to happen over three nights, he said.

Another task will be to adjust the sidewalk fence in “pinch point” areas where signposts had narrowed the pathway, but the sidewalk is expected to remain open, Schoppe said.

The bridge repair project, which started April 2017, is expected to be substantially completed by Nov. 30, though a “punch list” of tasks and remaining steel repairs may still need to be completed after that date, Schoppe said.