Montville Road Bridge Work May Begin This Fall

In December of 2011 there was plenty of hoopla when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy came to Montville to announce a $500,000 grant to help fund the rebuild of the Montville Road Bridge, which was washed out in the flood of 2007.

The bridge would connect Montville to Norwich behind the Big Y/ Wal-Mart complex on Route 82.

Obtaining the grant was a big hurdle that needed to be cleared in order to see the bridge rebuilt and was listed as among then candidate for mayor, now Mayor Ron McDaniel.

But the project has stagnated in a bureaucratic quagmire, not surprising when multiple towns are involved, Montville and Norwich, federal and state grant money is in play as well as state and federal regulatory requirements, permitting and other processes. Not to mention the design work.

“All the bureaucracy is so frustrating for us boots-on-the-ground guys,” McDaniel said. “We are trying hard to fast track this. It’s an important project and bottom line, we’re trying to streamline a process (mired) in bureaucracy.”

Tuesday the Inland Wetlands Commission did a site walk and that, McDaniel said, is part of the streamlining.

“We are on a very ambitious schedule, so we’re trying to get as many things done simultaneously as possible. The permitting red tape is what takes so much time. The actual build is one, two months, tops.”

McDaniel said the plan is to start construction in October but even here the project has encountered an obstacle.

“Now we have to make sure we can build during a hurricane season. Ten years ago it wouldn’t have been an issue, but with the recent weather (Hurricane Sandy, Tropical Storm Irene) it’s another story.”

One of the pioneers of the bridge project was Town Councilor Dana McFee, who used to live in the neighborhood.

This has been my baby," McFee told Patch in 2011. He said it was “why I got involved in politics.”