The following is an opinion submitted by Richard D. Rogovin. Mr. Rogovin is an attorney based in Ohio and Chairman of US Bridge. His daughter and her family live on Darbrook Road.  

Since the September 13 flood closed the Jesup Road crossing at Imperial Avenue, Westport has been told that a replacement will take 12 to 18 months, and the Board of Finance will be asked on October 7 to fund design and permitting. Before the town commits to that timetable, it should ask a basic question: what kind of structure is this?

Under the National Bridge Inspection Standards, a “bridge” is a structure with an opening of more than 20 feet, measured along the centerline of the road. The Jesup Road opening is reported to be only 12 to 13 feet. It is not a bridge for federal purposes. Connecticut does keep town-owned structures between 6 and 20 feet on its inventory, and they can qualify for state Local Bridge Program funds, so for state purposes it is a short-span structure. In practical terms, it is the size of crossing that is routinely replaced with a precast concrete box or three-sided culvert, made in a factory and set in place in a matter of days.

I do not suggest the label alone explains the long estimate. Some of the work is real and cannot be skipped. Seven inches of rain in three hours means the new opening must be sized properly, not simply rebuilt as before. There will be DEEP permits and possibly an Army Corps permit, attention to fish passage, review by the Jesup Road Historic District, and FEMA documentation to protect reimbursement.

But those steps can be compressed. I urge the town to direct its engineers to evaluate two things: a prefabricated replacement structure, and the use of Connecticut’s emergency permitting procedures and FEMA’s emergency-repair provisions. Hydraulic design, permitting, and fabrication can then proceed in parallel rather than one after another. The goal should be a reopened road measured in months, not a year and a half. The October 7 meeting is the right place to ask for that analysis.

One practical point: the town should confirm that the 12-to-13-foot figure is the opening measured along the road, not the width of the road deck, because only the opening counts.

In fairness to readers, I chair The Ohio Bridge Corporation (U.S. Bridge), a steel bridge fabricator in Cambridge, Ohio. This project is too small for us, and we will not bid on it. My only interest is that of someone who has spent a career around bridges and cares about Westport.

Richard Rogovin, Attorney and Chairman, U S Bridge 
Blacklick, OH 43004
Dickrogo@gmail.com
614-209-5010

The homepage image accompanying this article is René Magritte, The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) (La trahison des images [Ceci n’est pas une pipe]), 1929, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by the Mr. and Mrs. William Preston Harrison Collection, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA