Funds available for bridge work

WINSTED — Town Manager Dale Martin said this week that the town has found federal funding for the replacement of the Sucker Brook Bridge at the west end of Highland Lake’s Third Bay, after repeated storms made the structure unsafe for travel.Closed since October, the bridge won’t open for at least another two years, Martin said, as public input will be required to plan the $860,000 project.“This is basically just the start of the whole process,” Martin said in an interview Tuesday. “We’re getting federal money, so we will have to go through a lengthy public process that can really drag it out.”Martin said funds are administered by the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Local Bridge Program. If undertaken, the project design would be expected to begin in late 2012, with construction likely in 2014 or 2015.Martin said local and state policy encourages municipalities to provide early information to citizens on such projects, and asks that people raise any concerns with municipal officials early in the planning process. Residents are invited to contact the Town Manager’s Office at 860-738-6962 for information or to make comments and suggestions.The cost of the bridge replacement would receive 80-percent reimbursement, with the remaining 20 percent paid from municipal funds. The town’s portion would be approximately $173,000, while federal funds would amount to $693,000.The federal aid for the project was authorized under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) administered by the Federal Highway Administration and the DOT.Martin also noted that Winchester Town Hall will be closed on Mondays, Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Town Hall will also be closed Monday, Jan. 16, for Martin Luther King Day.The first selectmen’s meeting of the new year will be held Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012, with the second meeting of the month scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 17. Meetings take place in the P. Francis Hicks Room at Town Hall at 7 p.m.

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