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04/21/2020 03:30 PMThe town is moving forward with a planned replacement of the Noble Pedestrian Bridge at Sachem’s Head, as the Board of Selectmen (BOS) authorized First Selectman Matt Hoey this week to negotiate with the Sachem’s Head Association on a cost-sharing agreement for the project.
The cost for the entire project will be about $187,000, according to Town Engineer Janice Plaziak, with about $122,000 of that in construction costs. Hoey told the Courier that the goal is for the bridge be up and functional for at least part of this upcoming summer.
The bridge, which connects Chimney Corner Circle and Colonial Road near the Sachem’s Head Yacht Club, was closed down late last summer after the town brought in a structural engineer to assess it following some cursory evidence that parts of the structure were deteriorating.
Plaziak said the recommendation at the time was that the bridge was not safe, and it was subsequently closed down.
There has been some debate spanning almost five decades as to who is responsible for the upkeep or replacement of the bridge and other infrastructure around Sachem’s Head Association, which is its own municipality, having incorporated in 1921.
The last time there was major construction on the bridge was 1983, when Guilford and the association shared the total cost.
Sachem’s Head Association President MaryAlice Lee called the bridge “a safety issue for the neighborhood,” saying that there were elderly people, young families, and at least one disabled person who might need to use the bridge, particularly when the roads flood, a regular occurrence in the area.
Also discussed was the bridge providing an alternate pathway for emergency responders during weather events.
Lee also emphasized that the bridge is an important resource for the whole town, used by runners during the Sea Legs Shuffle, a popular summer road race, as well as by cyclists and pedestrians just enjoying the water views and scenery.
“It’s not something we control access to at all,” she said.
The entire annual budget of the association is around $150,000, which is paid by people who also pay Guilford taxes, Lee noted, making coming up with half the project cost for the bridge prohibitive.
Hoey told the Courier that he is “moving forward in the spirit of cooperation and understanding” with the bridge, intending to work out a way for the association to pay off its part of the cost over the course of multiple years. He stated BOS authorization does not allow him to accept anything less than a 50-50 split.
Flooding in the area of Chimney Corner Circle and nearby Prospect Road is often more of an inconvenience and a passability issue, according to Hoey, during both weather events and extreme high tides.
He said the town had recently allocated money to contract with an engineering firm and begin examining both Chimney Corner and other nearby roads, including Falcon Road to the east, to find mitigation and more long-term solutions to flooding and traversal issues in the Sachem’s Head area.
Though Plaziak had requested a bid waiver to work with the original manufacturer of the current bridge, Hoey told the Courier the town would go out to bid on the project.