Letter: Bristol must demand new Silver Creek plans

Posted 6/20/19

Various options have been proposed for the replacement of the bridge over Silver Creek: blocking the road during construction as planned by the DOT; keeping the road open by diverting traffic over a …

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Letter: Bristol must demand new Silver Creek plans

Posted

Various options have been proposed for the replacement of the bridge over Silver Creek: blocking the road during construction as planned by the DOT; keeping the road open by diverting traffic over a temporary bridge to the west; and speeding up construction by building the bridge off site and moving it in place.

DOT states that any change to their plans and diverting the road would be too expensive, but expensive to whom? Blocking Hope Street has the potential for gridlock throughout Bristol that would effectively shut down the town for the unknown amount of time for construction. This would cause great economic loss to the business community and general disruption.

There is, however, another option that would keep the road open, cause little inconvenience to Bristol and might even result in savings.

A new bridge could be built along the western side of the existing one while keeping Hope Street open. This option was successfully used in replacing the Massasoit bridge in Barrington with little inconvenience to the town. The construction sequence would be: build a new bridge to the west, divert traffic from Hope to it, take down the old bridge while shifting gas, water and power lines to the east side of the new bridge and then remove the old fill in the wetlands along the east side. The sewer line could stay where it is or be moved to beneath the new bridge.

The town has been far too quick in accepting DOT’s plans without exploring alternatives. The present ones do not address the concerns of Bristol. Nor do they appear to adequately consider sea level rise and flooding.

The Town needs to put a break on these plans and hold discussions by a small group of knowledgeable residents and a DOT engineer to arrive at a more suitable plan. There are other options.

Patrick Barosh, Ph.D.
Bristol

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