OXFORD, Connecticut — Crews with the Connecticut Department of Transportation have begun inspecting and will soon begin work on several roads that have been damaged or washed away due to flooding.
High water levels from rivers, brooks and creeks have delayed inspection and work on some of these roads, but officials said crews are moving as fast as they can.
“Over the last 24 hours, we went from more than 25 state roads being closed due to flooding. We've cut that down to about 14 or 15 today,” said Josh Morgan, director of communications for the CTDOT.
While some of the roads have been easy to fix and have since reopened, other will need extensive and long-term repair.
“We're still doing an inventory of the structures that were impacted the roadways, which were damaged, as we chart a path forward, but we know that there are going to be certain priority areas like [Route] 34 on either side of the Stevenson dam that are going to need extensive repairs,” said Morgan.
Other priority roads for CTDOT are Routes 53 and 37. Officials said they are looking at all possibilities to get traffic flowing again from opening roads to one lane if possible or building temporary bridges.
“Everything is on the table at this point, we’re in contact with contractors, with vendors, the companies that can produce and install these temporary type structures. We just have to make sure that it works and works for Connecticut,” said Morgan.
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With these repairs, officials want to make sure they can withstand any upcoming storms.
“We're cleaning up and securing areas because we know it's going to rain again, so we're going to make sure that these things are shored up so we don't, you know, incur any future damage for that next heavy rainfall,” said Morgan.
As far as how long these repairs might take, Morgan said, “We're still probably several days away from being able to have more of a clearer picture of what our next steps are.”
Many of the municipal public works crews are also evaluating the conditions of local roads, but officials want to remind drivers to obey road closures as some people have been driving past them.
“It's going to be inconvenient, but these safety measures are in place to make sure there's no future damages or loss of life,” said Morgan.
Some roads that are closed may look safe to drive on but they could be unstable.
“We're not going to open up a roadway if there's been undermining, you know, if the top of the asphalt looks like it's fine, but the substructure is not, so we're going to keep things closed until we can get repairs in place,” said Morgan.
Drivers are encouraged to check state road closures at ctroads.org.
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Jake Garcia is a multimedia journalist for FOX61 News. He can be reached at jgarcia@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
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