“Catastrophe about to Happen” – Neighbors Demand a New Plan for North St Bridge Project

Residents learned back in the spring about a Greenwich Dept of Public Works plans to replace a heavily traveled bridge on North Street that goes over West Brothers Brook – between Macpherson and Cotswood.

Since then word has circulated that the project would result in the busy roadway being limited to one-way traffic at times over an 18-24 month period tentatively beginning in spring 2025.

The drumbeat of opposition has grown loud.

The bridge, which many drivers are unaware exists as they travel over it, was built in 1909 and rebuilt in 1950.

In the 2018 inspection, the bridge was rated in Fair condition.

A more recent inspection completed in 2022 rated the bridge in Critical condition which prompted emergency repairs and posted a 4‐ton weight restriction.

At an April 9 meeting at town hall led by DPW deputy commissioner Jim Michel introduced Steve McDonald of WMC Consulting Engineers as consultant on the project.

The $3 million project is mostly being funded by a state grant. The Town pays for design and the state grant will pay for 100% of construction.

A main concern among residents relates to impacts on drainage as the bridge is near a neighborhood with a history of severe flooding.

There are also concerns about traffic because there are numerous schools in the area.

Last week, a motion passed by the RTM Budget Oversight Committee saying they did not believe the North Street Bridge project had been fully vetted, and encouraging the BET to not release conditions on the project.

Then on Sept 9 the First Selectman withdrew the DPW request for release of funding by BET that was scheduled for their Sept 10 meeting.

At the Board of Selectmen meeting on Thursday, residents Lee Gerkin and Zach Warren of the ‘North Street Bridge Coalition’ shared concerns and recommendations, as well as a petition with 320 signatures.

Their presentation referred to a “catastrophe about to happen.”

Recommendations included conducting an independent traffic study – not only a count, but to evaluate and manage traffic flow during construction. Also they recommended finding an alternative solution to complete construction in a much shorter timeline; to communicate with essential services such as police, fire and schools; and to ensure that any bridge design accommodates future storm water infrastructure improvements in the Brothers Brook drainage area.

Photo in North Street Bridge Coalition’ presentation to Selectmen shows traffic recently backed up for nearly a mile from the stoplight at Parsonage/Fairfield. Sept 12, 2024

Mr. Warren said traffic already often backs up on North Street near the bridge.

Mr. Gerkin noted there are 8 schools and 7,000 students within one mile of the “choke point” at Parsonage Rd and North Street.

“Parents are coming from all over Greenwich and North Street is a major traffic artery for the town,” he added. “This is very much an issue for the entire community of Greenwich.”

Mr. Warren urged the town to delay the bridge project in order to address the concerns.

He urged conducting an independent traffic study – not just a traffic count – to evaluate safety on residential side streets that aren’t meant for heavy traffic, and to identify alternate routes.

He warned that going ahead as planned would be “disastrous.” He described WMC’s plan as deficient and said they had been selected because they were the lowest bidder.

“We’re not sure they’re the right ones for the job,” he said. “There were no goals in the WMC contract requiring the bridge to be constructed in the shortest possible time period. There were no goals about minimizing traffic disruption. There were no goals related to water drainage issues.”

“We need to ensure that any bridge design will accommodate future storm water infrastructure improvements in the Brothers Brook drainage area, and develop a plan to address those improvements and commit to a timely schedule for funding in the town budget and seek federal funds.”

Mr. Warren said DPW’s traffic count of 7,000 cars per day was done in 2020 during the pandemic and suggested the true count was much higher, and that DOT data from August 2024 totaled 9,500 cars per day on average, though many times, peak traffic was 13,000+ per day.

“The CT DOT say that alternating lanes of traffic should not be used for average daily traffic volumes in excess of 8,000 vehicles per day. It’s clearly not best practice.”

Mr. Warren said it was questionable whether the alternative one-way pattern would preclude emergency vehicles to pass through North Street. He noted the bridge has a 4 ton weight limit and emergency vehicles such as fire trucks that weigh far in excess of 4 tons are already at risk when they traverse that bridge.

Drainage/Flooding

The bridge is an integral part of the Brothers Brook drainage area that includes Echo Lane, Hillside Drive, Ridgebrook, Plow Lane, North St, Old Church, which Mr. Warren said were all plagued by substandard infrastructure that had been documented in a study for the town in 2022 by CDM Smith.

He said that study identified 9 project to address infrastructure that provides water storage and management for hundreds of homes in the area, and results in frequent and severe flooding for many residents.

Overall he said the project needed to be revised to be comprehensive and include and fund CDM Smith’s recommendations.

“On water drainage, we need to ensure that any bridge design accommodates future storm water infrastructure improvements,” he said.

First Selectman Fred Camillo said good points had been raised.

“I agree with a lot of it,” he said, adding that he had met with DPW to review much of what Mr. Gerkin and Mr. Warren said.

“I agree with the traffic study – 7,000 is way too low,” he said. “This is extremely helpful. As you, I know I pulled this off the agenda for the BET and I think some of these recommendations are terrific.”

Public Comment

During public comment, Peter Quigley warned, “You are in a major, serious FEMA flood zone area that floods, not just upstream, but also downstream to Greenwich High School and now down into Milbrook.”

“I think there’s been very poor planning on drainage, and this site in particular,” he continued, adding that overbuilding and adding impervious surfaces had contributed to the problem.

“You could be changing the direction of the flow of West Brothers brook, which together with East Brothers Brook is the third largest watershed in town,” Mr. Quigley warned. “If you don’t understand the water flow in this town – the water that flows down into Long Island Sound is incredible and is not being managed.”

Quigley said it was critical not to increase the serious flooding in the area of Echo Lane and urged the town to assemble a watershed council.

“You need more than engineered solutions to deal with this problem,” Quigley added.

Mr. Camillo said, “This is going to be redone. I don’t know what it will look like, but certainly a lot of this is going to be incorporated, and there will be other voices including other departments on this.”

Location of CT Dept of Transportation Rte 1 bridge project near corner of Hillside Rd. Photo: Leslie Yager

Hope Foley, a resident of Milbrook, predicted that if the timeline for the State DOT Rte 1 bridge project at the intersection of Hillside Rd conflicted with the North Street bridge project, town traffic would come to a standstill.

The rebuild of the bridge at Hillside and East Putnam Ave will limit traffic to one lane in either direction by Greenwich High School for at least 14 months.

Ms Foley pointed out that traffic will not be able to cut through through Milbrook, which is a private neighborhood with electronic gates.

She also urged a thorough downstream analysis.

“We’re already looking at getting three times the volume of water we currently get when this Route 1 bridge goes through,” she said. “The thought that we’re going to get more water coming out of changes to the watershed – it’s just not right.”

Eric Brower, AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) said he had been hired by the Milbrook Association.

“We’ve been dealing for over 2 years trying to get a satisfactory solution to addressing this problem,” he said, adding that West Brothers Brook was one of the two watershed areas that come into Milbrook.

“We’ve retained a consultant – an engineer with specialization in watersheds flood flow analysis – and, in his professional opinion the existing analysis is not adequate and is flawed,” Brower said. “I don’t know what data they’re going to take into consideration in determining whether there will be an adverse impact with the release of the big puddle behind North Street down into Milbrook.”

In the meantime, he said they installed stream flow monitors for West and East Brothers Brook because of their lack of confidence in the data being used.

“At least this way if the problems as predicted do come about, we’ll have a baseline to compare to,” he said, adding that there were concerns that FEMA data being use for the either project was outdated.

Mr. Camillo said DPW will not request the release of funds by the BET until after an upcoming public meeting about the North Street bridge project.

Mr. Michel said a public hearing on the project was scheduled for Monday, October 7 at 7:00pm in the town hall meeting room, as well as on Zoom.

In the meantime people can forward comments to DPW at: [email protected].