[JayCT]

Originally Posted by jbgusa

Why? Are these people working diligently or shuffling around?

No, they have literally hundreds of projects that require their time too. Remember that in addition to having minimal staff to keep labor costs and taxes down, the state limits their ability to work overtime when things get very busy. Again to save labor costs.

And before you ask, no I do not work for CTDOT. I have worked with them on many major projects so I know first hand what is really happening there. I will say most work pretty diligently.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by jbgusa

He did graduate from Cornell College of Engineering. He did that for a short time, and then the Navy called him to serve in Korea. After Korea, he took advantage of government benefits to attend Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. So his career changed; he retained his original education.

I know that neither he nor I knew how to build a bridge. we do know that procrastination is underway when we see a highway under construction with virtually no progress for months at a time. If you travel the Merritt Parkway south into the Hutchinson River Parkway, right after the Mobil station (which itself took the planned amount of time to rebuild) you will see the lanes and narrow to accommodate bridge repairs. Why nothing was done while the gas station was closed is a major mystery. This is just one of many examples of stalled public construction.

Again, unless you actually have designed a bridge project, you can’t really know or understand the work involved.

I just Googled the Mobil station and found it just reopened after a major renovation.

https://www.dot.ny.gov/news/press-re...024/2024-03-08

I can’t speak for why the bridge on the Hutch is taking so long but I can say it is my experience that there usually are good reasons.

Note that when a project is bid, the DOT is obligated to accept the lowest bid price. They can’t tell a contractor how to do the project. They can only give them a set time to complete the work. If the contractor doesn’t meet that deadline, they are fined a set amount per day. Of course if the Contractor comes across an unforeseen problem, they have to be given extra time to address it. That’s the law.

Also note that you may not see workers there every day but that doesn’t mean they aren’t working on it. To keep costs down a contractor usually works on multiple projects to keep their crews busy. The crew could be working on a different project that day. It also could be that the contractor has poured concrete and it has to cure for several days before work can continue. Again I’m just speculating.

[AntonioR]

Considering what destroyed the bridge wasn’t an issue with the bridge itself (it was a sort of freak accident), didn’t they conserved the plans of the now destroyed bridge? It wasn’t an old bridge, so everything of the original probabl comply with current building codes.

I would think rebuilding the bridge is literally a case of “cut-and-paste” if the plans of the original bridge still exist.

[robr2]

Robert Moses was given lots of autonomy and at one time held 14 positions within NYC and NYS. He pretty much hard card blanche to evict people from their homes, take land, and get rid of businesses and attractions in his way.

One of the largest projects he fostered was the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel. First conceived/and preliminarily designed in 1928, it took until 1939 before it was actually considered for construction undergoing numerous design stages. Initially planned for a 1940 groundbreaking, the work started and stopped in 1942 due to the war. It was restarted in 1946 and it was 1950 before it was open to traffic.

Yes actual construction only took four years but it was over 2 decades in planning and working on approvals and funding.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by AntonioR

Considering what destroyed the bridge wasn’t an issue with the bridge itself (it was a sort of freak accident), didn’t they conserved the plans of the now destroyed bridge? It wasn’t an old bridge, so everything of the original probabl comply with current building codes.

I would think rebuilding the bridge is literally a case of “cut-and-paste” if the plans of the original bridge still exist.

It's a 50 year old bridge - codes have changed since then and it's also an opportunity to improve upon the original goal of the bridge. Maybe it should be 6 lanes instead of 4 to ensure it can deal with future requirements.

[AntonioR]

Originally Posted by robr2

It's a 50 year old bridge - codes have changed since then and it's also an opportunity to improve upon the original goal of the bridge. Maybe it should be 6 lanes instead of 4 to ensure it can deal with future requirements.

I’m talking about the Norwalk bridge, which is the topic of the thread’s title.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by robr2

It's a 50 year old bridge - codes have changed since then and it's also an opportunity to improve upon the original goal of the bridge. Maybe it should be 6 lanes instead of 4 to ensure it can deal with future requirements.

That bridge was rebuilt 10 years ago to accommodate an extra lane on I-95. It was brought up to current codes at that time. It also would have accommodated any planned lanes above and below. I doubt much has changed since then.

I learned that CTDOT is handling the bridge design in house. That likely means there will be little to no changes to the structure.

[robr2]

Oops - my bad. I was focused on the Key Bridge. I’ll go back to my corner.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by JayCT

I learned that CTDOT is handling the bridge design in house. That likely means there will be little to no changes to the structure.

...and it won't need changes. CTDOT can take their time with this one, no rush.
Until its rebuilt, vehicles could just use the Ferris Ave overpass one block to the east or the Cedar St or Scribner Ave overpasses two blocks west. Not a huge deal.
There has since been no residual impacts to Belden Ave, the Hospital, the Rt 7 exressway or 95 as all lanes are now fully open. It's business as usual.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by jbgusa

The original Key bridge took five years to build. They are projecting at least double this time. The entire Connecticut Turnpike and Merritt Parkway took less time to build that the U.S. and Maryland are projecting for the Key bridge.

I recently read they are projecting late 2028/early 2029. That's a long time from now but it's not double the time it took to build the original.