Pomfret’s ‘Season of the Bridges’
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
POMFRET — It might be spring elsewhere but for Pomfret it’s the season of the bridges.
First Selectman Maureen Nicholson said her goal is to get the town’s infrastructure handled to offer as “much longevity as possible.”
Needle Eye Road
The small bridge on Needle Eye Road is closed again. Victim of unseen water problems - again. A sink hole - again. The pavement collapsed - again. Déjà vu.
In July of 2024 that bridge was closed after “renegade” water flow washed away the material under the bridge deck. A sink hole developed and then the pavement collapsed. Experts did everything they could, she said, based on what they could see, to come up with the reconstruction plan then. Now, off the downstream side of the bridge, fill material has washed into the intermittent brook.
From July to October 2024 Nicholson said crews lined the culvert under the bridge, shored up the dam wall and a cutout in the concrete wall that was poured redirected water to the fixed culvert. The stone bridge walls were made higher and were stabilized with concrete. She said they had to explore what was needed between the road surface and what’s below, toward the culvert. They had to see how much erosion had taken place and replace the material. Back then Nicholson said they believe, years ago, a crack developed in the culvert and the sand between the culvert and the road surface flowed through the crack and into the formerly flowing water, leaving a void that resulted in the sinkhole in the road’s surface in July. The bridge was reopened in late October.
Water is a mysterious, ever changing thing. Construction affects water. A pond upstream is gone; Algonquin Gas moved its pipe. Water goes wherever it wants.  “We’re still exploring drainage issues,” she said. The problem is “somewhere we can’t see. We can’t see where the water is coming in or out.”
Day Road Bridge
A virtual meeting on the upcoming Day Road Bridge replacement was held recently, she said, and residents, mostly neighbors on that road, voiced their opinions, she said.
Some feared that putting a slightly larger bridge there would encourage more speed and noise in the neighborhood. However Nicholson said Day Road is not a major road to anywhere in particular and she doesn’t see that worry coming to fruition. “It’s still the same passage. I do not think it will look or feel any different,” she said. 
Plans call for eliminating the weight restriction and the scour critical condition, widening the roadway. The bridge crosses the Wappoquia Brook. There will be a 2.6-mile detour. Construction is expected to start in the spring 2028 and the cost is estimated at $3.2 million. 
Taft Pond Bridge
April 1 Taft Pond Road was closed and a 6-mile detour was set. 
The state Department of Transportation declared that bridge “in poor condition” and ordered it replaced. Scour is a critical problem around the bridge abutments. Scour results when vicious storm water washes away some of the soil at the base of the bridge supports.
Prep work has involved the removal of dozens of trees on both sides of Taft Pond Road. The clearing is required because the road and the bridge are being raised slightly and the bridge will be slightly wider and longer. This will allow solid abutments to be tied into bedrock — no longer victim to scour. 
“Major storms had eroded the support behind the abutments,” Nicholson said.
According to the contract, NJR Construction LLC of Torrington has 244 days to complete the work. If they hit that number, Nicholson said the bridge will be finished before winter.
Looking Ahead
Nicholson said all the bridge projects are 100 percent covered, 80 percent by federal funds and 20 percent in state funds. Originally the total grant coverage was 80 percent, she said, but towns could not afford the 20 percent so the grant formula was changed. It makes sense to get them done while there’s 100 percent funding.

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