Petition to Protest the Prolonged Construction
of the North Street Bridge

We, the undersigned residents of Greenwich, respectfully submit this Petition to express our grave concerns and strong opposition to the current plans for the repair and reconstruction of the North Street Bridge, and to request the Town to satisfactorily address the Concerns and Recommendations set forth in this Petition so as to proceed with a more timely and effective project.

 

Background of Town Plans at Issue:

The Town of Greenwich is currently planning an 18 – 24 month construction project to replace the North Street Bridge located between Andrews Road and North Maple Avenue. Construction plans as they stand today would involve the closure of one lane with alternating traffic lanes via a signal light. The Town states that over 7,000 cars travel through this route daily as a main thoroughfare to access Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich Train Station and several schools in the area including North Street, Brunswick, Greenwich Academy, Greenwich Country Day and Greenwich High School. However, there not been a traffic study conducted to determine alternate routes for passengers or emergency vehicles. There has been minimal transparency on the RFP process and whether alternative measures of bridge construction have been evaluated.

 

Key Concerns:

 

1. Extended Construction Timeline

​The proposed construction period of 18 – 24 months is excessively long and will significantly disrupt the daily lives of residents and the local economy. More efficient construction methods including well-known and widely-adopted Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) methods should be implemented to significantly reduce the adverse impacts. Larger and more complex bridge repair projects utilizing ABC are now being completed throughout the U.S. in a few days. For example, the fuel truck explosion and fire in May on I-95 near Norwalk caused catastrophic damage to the bridge and highway resulting in the closure of I-95. The bridge was removed and the extensive highway damage was repaired within three days. A webcam with live video feed enabled viewing the repair work. ABC methods are more expensive projects, but by reducing project work time from 18 months to potentially a month or so could result in significant savings.

 

2. Lack of Comprehensive Studies:

​The approval process for this project was expedited without the completion of critical studies, including but not limited to:

 

• Traffic Impact Analysis: Assessing the effects on local traffic flow and congestion. The Town is using traffic data from the State of CT showing 7,000 cars daily on North Street, not an independent Traffic Study. This traffic count is based on 2020 Covid era data from the State. A current Traffic Study must be done. North Street is a major traffic artery linking the Merritt to Downtown Greenwich, the Train Station, I-95 and schools with 6,000 students/staff. A formal Traffic Study would not only count traffic accurately, but it would also  determine how to best manage the traffic flows during construction.

 

• School Impact Study: Evaluating potential disruptions to school transportation and student safety. The Town’s website describing the North Street Bridge project states that there is one school located within 0.9 miles of the North Street Bridge. In fact, within one mile of the North Street Bridge, and the choke point a quarter mile away at the stop light at Parsonage/Old Church and North Street, there are 5 schools totaling over 6,000 students, teachers and staff.

 

• Emergency Vehicle Access Review: Ensuring unobstructed access for emergency services during construction. Fire trucks, police cars and ambulances all need to use North Street. Reducing North Street to one lane at the Bridge with a signal light for alternating lanes will cause extensive congestion on North Street and surrounding streets as people seek alternative routes resulting in these streets also being jammed. This could cause serious problems for emergency service vehicles going to Greenwich Hospital, Nathaniel Witherell and elsewhere.

 

3. Impacts on the Community:

• Traffic Congestion: Prolonged construction will lead to increased traffic congestion, causing delays, hazard and inconvenience for residents, commuters, local businesses, and school transportation.

 

• Safety Concerns: The lack of a thorough review of emergency vehicle access poses a serious risk to the safety and well-being of the community. For the Town to simply say that emergency vehicles will have “priority” at an alternating stop light is short-sighted and negligent.

 

• Storm water Management: The bridge must be constructed in a way that enables future expansion of upstream water flow so that once the downstream work at the North Street bridge has been completed, there will not be any need for further construction work to accommodate rising levels of stormwater runoff.

 

4. Our Demands:

• Reevaluation of the Construction Timeline: Conduct a thorough review of the project to identify ways to expedite the construction process in order to provide for a significantly shorter timeline.  The RFP for the construction work must require proposals to provide for the North Street Bridge project to be completed in the minimal amount of time and with minimal disruption for the Town.

 

• Auditing of Construction Award Process: Publicly disclose any correspondence between the Town and construction companies in the bidding process including but not limited to information that relates to how the companies would be selected to bid for the project, other existing engagements with the Town or relationships with town employees and any other stipulations required for the bid process.

 

• Transparent Planning and Communication: Establish communication channels to ensure that all project plans and progress updates are broadly communicated to the public, with opportunities for community input and feedback.

 

• Completion of Comprehensive Studies: Perform the necessary traffic, school impact, and emergency vehicle access studies to ensure that all potential adverse effects on the community are adequately identified, analyzed and addressed.

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• Mitigation Measures: Develop and implement effective mitigation measures to minimize the disruption and negative impacts on residents, schools, emergency vehicles and local businesses during the construction period.

 

 

Recommendations:

 

With proper planning, community involvement, and the Town’s commitment to minimizing adverse impacts, the reconstruction of the North Street Bridge can proceed in a manner that respects the needs and concerns of the residents of the Town of Greenwich. We request the relevant authorities to take immediate action to address the issues outlined in this petition, and to provide readily available update reports so additional input can be provided by residents, schools, emergency services and others as needed.

 

By means of this Petition, we hereby request to be included on the Agenda for the Board of Selectmen meeting on September 12 at 10:00 am and provided adequate time to present our Concerns and Recommendations set forth herein.