Bridge work will cause some traffic closures in area near Merwin Meadows
WILTON — Motorists heading to the Merwin Meadows area will face intermittent closures on Lovers Lane on Monday and Tuesday due to work on a bridge replacement project, the town of Wilton announced.
A crane will be delivered Monday to the bridge project area, and the bridge beams will be delivered and installed Tuesday, the town said.
On both days, Lovers Lane will be closed intermittently while the equipment and beams needed for the project are delivered and installed.
Police officers and traffic flaggers will be on site both days to direct traffic in the area near the town park. Any emergency vehicles needing to cross the Lovers Lane bridge will be given first priority.
The entire bridge replacement project is expected to be completed this summer.
The work this week is the latest step in installing a new 60-foot bridge to carry Lovers Lane over the Comstock Brook. Lovers Lane, which is off Ridgefield Road (Route 33) opposite Wilton Center, connects with Merwin Lane. Both roads are dead-ends, and there are about 10 houses as well as the Wilton Playshop along the road that leads to Merwin Meadows town park.
A temporary bridge, allowing one lane of alternating traffic, was installed last year on Lovers Lane to start the replacement project.
The old bridge, which was about 90 years old, had structural problems and was only 16 feet wide, which made it “functionally obsolete.”
There were serious problems with the old bridge’s substructure, which had a rating of “poor.” In particular, the concrete abutments, which go down to the water, were rated “poor” and the scour was rated “critical.” Scour is the erosion by the water of the stream of the dirt at the bridge abutments.
For the construction — estimated at $2.7 million to $2.8 million in 2020 — the town will be responsible for 20 percent of the cost, with federal funds paying the remaining 80 percent.