Troubled Bridge Over Water to Re-Open This Spring

, the damaged RHS footbridge is expected to open back up to pedestrian and vehicle traffic in April, but don't expect a replacement of the bridge.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Angelo DeSimone briefed the board on discussions he's had with the DEP on potentially replacing – not just repairing – the bridge.

"My question was how would things change if we raised the bottom so the top was at the 100-year flood level," said DeSimone. "Turns out that's a seven-foot proposition...and if we wanted to keep it handicap accessible, we'd have to have at least 84 feet or ramps on both sides of the bridge."

DeSimone was concerned if the district were to do that, the ramps would become as big a barrier as the damaged bridge currently is, a point Trustee Bob Hutton also made. Hutton said the amount of ramping itself could make for a dam.

The district would need to commission a hydrology study to determine if the bridge were raised 7 feet, how the ramping might become an impediment to the water. Should the district choose that option, it would need permit exemptions, according to Superintendent Daniel Fishbein.

Remarking he asked the DEP based on his own curiosity, DeSimone said there is no plan to raise the bridge. 

"I haven't asked an engineer to raise the bridge or to draw a plan. Just for my own curiosity I wanted to be able to answer the question," he said.

Bids are expected shortly and work should be complete by April 1, DeSimone said.

The footbridge, which an engineering report said has been damaged since at least 2008, further deteriorated in a site check in 2011.

The district's engineer recommended it be closed due to safety concerns. Since the closing, neighbors have complained students illegally cross the bridge, scaling the sides, a few feet above the rushing brook.

"Somebody's going to get hurt there," Paul Woodburn, a neighbor on N. Irving Street recently told Patch. "This is a dangerous situation."

Board member Sheila Brogan identified other potential troubles. The trustee asked what possible impact there was of the . "What can happen by Maple and the high school and of course what's the impact when we fix something up here? What happens further [down]?" she wondered.

Member Vince Loncto on Monday asked if there were any plans to improve water flow or make other substantive changes. Fishbein replied that the seven-foot raising is just an estimate, one without surveying done. No bridge replacement work is scheduled nor are other plans in place, spare repairing some of the damaged sections of the bridge, including the foundation.

"Sometimes you have to patch a roof before you replace it," Fishbein said. He did not favor getting rid of the bridge.

"Whether that bridge is there or not, we're still going to have floods," DeSimone said.