Metro-North Walk Bridge Undergoes Improvements; Replacement Still Planned

NORWALK, Conn. – The Metro-North Walk Bridge in Norwalk can now open and close automatically without the aid of dozens of workers to operate it, as design work continues on its replacement.

Connecticut Transportation Commissioner James Redeker announces improvements to the Metro-North Walk Bridge in Norwalk and said that replacement of the bridge is on schedule.
Photo Credit: *Casey Donahue*

Officials test opening the bridge automatically without the aid of 40 Metro-North workers to open it manually.
Photo Credit: *Casey Donahue*

Casey Donahue

04/28/2015 4:00 p.m.

The 118-year-old rotating Walk Bridge carries four tracks over the Norwalk River and opens and closes for marine traffic. It malfunctioned twice last year, stranding hundreds of Metro-North riders along the New Haven Line and causing delays and headaches.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said that the state would replace the bridge with a new structure, and last year secured the $465 million necessary to complete the project.

In a press conference Tuesday, Connecticut Transportation Commissioner James Redeker announced that the bridge can now open and close on its own.

“Over the course of time when that bridge first failed, it required upwards of 40 people in order to open and close that bridge successfully. But now we’re in a position where investments have been made to make that bridge operate in an automatic fashion,” Redeker said.

The state is procuring a contractor to complete final designs for a replacement bridge, he said. He expects that the new bridge will open up and down instead of swinging side to side, and said that it will be built in sections so that the whole bridge doesn’t have to open and close at once. The bridge will also be built using accelerated methods designed to reduce the impact on commuters and the area, Redeker said.

Replacing the bridge is critical to Malloy’s plan to revitalize the state’s transportation infrastructure over the next 30 years, Redeker said.

“The design of a replacement bridge is progressing as fast as possible, and the Department of Transportation is coordinating with all the project stakeholders – an enormous effort for a project as complicated as this one,” Malloy said in a statement.

State Sen. Toni Boucher, Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling and Connecticut Rail Commuter Council Vice Chairman John Hartwell all praised the state's work to replace the bridge, saying it was a vital component of the area’s economy.

Redeker said that he does not have a final timeline in place for when the bridge will be replaced, but construction is expected to begin in 2016 and be completed in 2020.

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