WATERBURY, Conn. (WTNH) — Jim Bowden was stopped by the Route 8 southbound bridge over Huntingdon Avenue in Waterbury, and he didn’t like what he saw.
“The rest of the bridge is just decaying and falling apart,” he said. “It just really took me by surprise.”
He took a picture of it and sent it to News 8 through Report It. He also shared it on Facebook.
“It’s just getting decayed and rusted,” Bowden said. “I shared that with all my friends.”
News 8 reached out to the Department of Transportation. The DOT is aware that the bridge needs work, but officials say it is not dangerous.
“The bridge is perfectly safe in that this issue has nothing to do with the structural integrity of that bridge,” said DOT Spokesperson Kevin Nursick.
The DOT has worked on the bridge before. This past spring crews installed bars called steel struts to support a wing wall. The wing wall is part of the retaining wall system.
“It’s not pretty to look at but we had to make a temporary repair to hold us over until 2017,” said Nursick.
That’s when major work will start on this bridge. Crews will replace the wing walls as well as 500 feet of the retaining wall. It will cost about $6.5 million, but the bridge needs it. It was built back in the 1960s, and it’s one of more than 4,000 bridges that the DOT is in charge of keeping up.
“We inspect all of them at a minimum of once every two years…this is something we don’t mess around with and we don’t take any chances with,” said Nursick.
That’s good news to drivers like Bowden. He says although he has to drive over the bridge, he doesn’t like to.
“How else are you going to get to and from? So if you’re going to Waterbury and you’re going over exit 36, that’s what you’re going to be driving on,” Bowden said.
Though the DOT inspects all bridges, the agency wants to hear from you if you see a bridge that you think needs work. You can report any such bridges here.
