BRISTOL — Workers from J.H. McDonald Co. of Lyndonville moved closer to completing a temporary bridge across the New Haven River at Sycamore Park in Bristol late last month, when this photo was taken by Peter Grant. By late last week the span was pretty much ready to go, Bristol Town Administrator Bill Bryant said on Thursday. By Friday, with the asphalt was down, it was open to two-way traffic.
The nearby “stoplight bridge” has been reduced to one-lane for years and hwas slated for replacement a couple times in the past decade. This temporary bridge will carry traffic while the nearby span is dismantled and a new permanent bridge is installed.
Contractors are expected to work through the winter to ready the site, and then the big structural steel elements are due to arrive around next July 1. The new bridge is scheduled to open a year from now, with dismantling of this temporary span set for spring 2015, Bryant said.