DPW Head: Scribner Hill Road closure is ‘going to be a while’

WILTON — A northbound lane on Scribner Hill Road is likely to be closed until an engineer can address the steep slope.

Department of Public Works Director Frank Smeriglio is reviewing bids for a geotechnical engineer to address a shift in the street slope on a stretch of Scribner Hill Road that has been closed since last week.

Smeriglio cited a “steep slope on one side of the road” as the cause for the closure of the northbound lane. Since the shift was noticed, the town has put stop signs on both entry points and created a one-lane road.

Although he couldn’t give a definitive timetable, Smeriglio said it is likely “going to be a while” before the road is back to being fully open. “The way it sloped,” he said Wednesday, “was a cause of concern.”

An initial notice from his department last week said the road conditions will be monitored “on a daily basis.”

At this point, Smeriglio said he isn’t fully certain of the cause, but carefully surmised that entrapped water under the pavement could be playing a role.

The goal is to stabilize the slope. For that, he said the town will need to hire a geotechnical company to assess and ultimately fix the damages.

He is in the bid review process and will need to make a recommendation for approval to the first selectwoman for the project to move forward.

Scribner Hill Road features a guardrail running along the affected northbound lane due to the “steep edge” that Smeriglio said will play a factor into the geotechnical boring process once a bid is recommended and approved by the town.

While he did not have the traffic count for the stretch of road, Scribner Hill also acts as the connecting artery between Mountain Road and Danbury Road.