By Ed Munster
(September 6, 2022) —Why has it taken so long to re-open Beaver Meadow Road?
Beaver Meadow Road, which has been closed since the end of April, is the main artery for traffic between Route 154 and Route 81. Many people who have children in the HK Intermediate School or the HK Middle school must take the detour, and nothing seems to be happening on this culvert project. I contacted Chris Corsa, who is the Assistant Director of Haddam’s Public Works Department, to learn about when we might expect this road to re-open.
Chris was reluctant to give an exact date, but did point out that the agreement with the contractor, Suchoki and Son, Inc., states that the project must be completed by December 3, 2022. Chris expects it to be finished sooner than that because the supply chain issues are now being resolved. Soon after Beaver Meadow Road was closed in the spring there was a delay in getting a power pole relocated. Frontier had to move the pole, and Eversource was responsible for moving the power lines. The manufacturing of the needed box culverts for Haddam at United Concrete got delayed because of other projects going on around the state that took our place in line at the manufacturer.
The box culvert components began to arrive in mid-August. Now that these are installed, the wing walls which direct the stream into the culvert will be formed and then poured and the final grading of the area can be done. So, the good news is that the project is now starting to move in a positive direction. Hopefully, those Beaver Meadow Road Detour signs will be coming down soon.
Road Sign Photo by Ed Munster
Construction Photo by Chris Corsa
