MANCHESTER — Bigelow Brook is flowing from Center Springs Pond through the newly installed Edgerton Street culvert, and the long-closed road will be reopened to traffic by the end of the year.
The project will also include a pedestrian bridge spanning a wide cut in the old rail embankment that runs between Center Springs Park and Broad Street. The culvert was installed at the bottom of that cut. The entire project is expected to be completed by early summer, 2015, Public Works Director Mark Carlino said Tuesday.
Last week, the section of Edgerton Street that had been torn up during construction was repaved, Carlino said. Over the next two weeks, crews will install signs, trim trees and do other maintenance work, he said.
The $1.5 million project was prompted by the failure of the Edgerton Street drainage system, which became obvious when a sinkhole opened on the road in 2009. Soon after the street was closed, the redevelopment agency, as part of an overall plan to revive the Broad Street commercial area, recommended connecting Center Springs Park and Broad Street by opening the rail embankment, which carries the Cheney Rail Trail.
Directors and redevelopment agency members have debated the best design to complete the connection. An arched tunnel had been chosen and the contractor had started work on that design. But in September, directors decided in a 6-3 vote to adopt a more open bridge design. Some members had expressed concerns that a tunnel would attract vagrants and other problems.
Carlino said a group comprising members of the board of directors, redevelopment agency and town staff have chosen a bridge design called a "modified bowstring." The bridge will be manufactured over the winter and installed in the spring, he said.
The arched tunnel was to have cost about $750,000; a bridge will add $150,000 to $450,000 to the total cost, officials have said. Town leaders are discussing final costs and construction details with the contractor, Carlino said.
The town also is working with a team led by Montreal-based LiveWorkLearnPlay to redevelop the town-owned side of the Manchester Parkade. One big hurdle remains in the planned connection between Center Springs Park and the redevelopment site — the Asian restaurant that stands between the cut in the rail embankment and Broad street.
Although no decision has been made, some town leaders have said that a key to realizing the most effective and aesthetically pleasing connection is the purchase of the restaurant. Representatives of LiveWorkLearnPlay have said that wide open, visible access to Center Springs Park is a key to any project on the town's 18 acres on Broad Street, formerly a blighted shopping center.
