Pinello Road Bridge - 2025

ECI’s Client: Town of Bethel

Completion Date: August 2025

Subcontractors: Lafayette

 

The Town of Bethel hired ECI to rebuild Town Highway Bride No. 52 and remove both the existing 100 LF temporary off-alignment bridge and the remnants of the original Bridge No. 52 which was destroyed during a 2019 storm when Gilead Brook overtopped its banks.  This project was particularly notable as it marked ECI’s first fully self-performed cast-in-place bridge deck – excluding only the bridge rail installation.

 

When the crew started in May the in-stream work windows limited how much progress could initially be made.  But fortunately, weather conditions were favorable, and the brook remained below its ordinary high water level which allowed the team to begin pile driving, abutment forming, and placing Type IV stone fill.

 

The new bridge consists of two integral abutments supporting three W30 x124 girders which were metalized at the fabricator.  ECI requested an adjustment to girder elevations to enable the use of stay-in-place metal forms – a forming system we became highly proficient with during the Richmond Bridge Project.  Our concrete crew assisted with installing the rebar and pouring the cast-in-place deck which was finished using ECI's bridge screed and a broom finish.  Once the new bridge was open the crew started preparing to remove the temporary bridge.

 

The temporary bridge was able to be removed without a crane due to the narrow stream, low clearance and lack of backwalls.  Instead, crews used shoring towers – built from waste blocks and H-piles – to support rollers that the bridge was slid along as it was incrementally jacked, pulled back and disassembled.  Because of the proximity of Gilead Brook Road (which intersects Pinello Road perpendicularly) only about 30 feet of the bridge could be rolled back and dismantled at a time.  This process occasionally resulted in a significant cantilever so to manage this the crew used waste blocks as counterweights on the back half of the bridge to balance it and allow for continued disassembly.

After the temporary bridge was removed the crew restored the site and installed topsoil, seed and hay.  

Overall the bridge was a success and well received by the Town of Bethel.