In-depth negotiations maintain the beauty of the landscape

By Leila Javitch

At long last, the Mountain Road bridge is finished and motorists, bikers and walkers can enjoy the extraordinary views along the road, such as the hay field with the Virginia split rail fence and the Perkins house with its long driveway lined with glorious peonies in June. On the other side of the road are the manicured grounds of the Battell Stoeckel estate, which houses the Yale School of Music and Art in the summer.

At one time both sides of this stretch of Mountain Road were part of the Battell-Stoeckel estate. On this property over a century ago, three handsome stone bridges were built to cross the bubbly Spaulding Brook, which flows from south to northeast across the grounds.  A path or dirt road ran over these bridges and was maintained for carriage rides. All three bridges are made of granite stone.

One of these sister bridges is part of the present driveway of the Perkins home. That particular bridge bears the date of 1884. On the other side of the street another, nicknamed the Flower Bridge, crosses the brook by the Eldridge Barn on the way to the Music Shed. The third is the bridge that traverses Mountain Road.

The Mountain Road bridge had been in need of renovation for some time. The space through which the stream flows was too small for the build-up of water during the spring melt so that the water rolled back into the bridge, and over time it eroded the walls of the bridge. The State of Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) stepped in in 2019 and declared that an entirely new bridge would have to be built to meet state regulations and insurance requirements. The bridge would need to have two lanes and be  large enough to cover cement box culverts beneath it to hold the passing water. 

It seemed a reasonable plan. However, Norfolk Town Clerk Linda Perkins  and her daughter, Barbara Perkins, learned at a sparsely-attended initial public meeting last year that  the DOT engineers were proposing 75 feet of metal guard rail to be installed on each side of the bridge. The Perkins felt that this was not acceptable for a bridge of such historic and aesthetic importance and First Selectman Matt Riiska agreed with them. He was already attempting to modify the state’s proposals. 

Ultimately, the DOT eventually agreed that the installation of elongated guard rails on a country road where the posted speed limit was 25 miles per hour was excessive. Shorter lengths were negotiated. Numerous iterations of steel and wood guard rails were considered and rejected. Eventually the group agreed upon wing walls of stone to enhance the natural beauty of the road, as well as to address the main traffic issue of preventing a motorist from going over the embankment into the brook.

The new Mountain Road bridge is basically cement poured into a wire form, resulting in some aesthetic issues that needed to be addressed. They were mostly solved after many negotiations between Riiska and the Cardinal Engineering Associates, which had an engineer on site every day of construction. A masonry group, Arduini Construction, was hired to complete the bridge and to repair the Battell Stoeckel wall. 

The masons carefully cut in thirds the thick granite walls from the original bridge and collapsing wall. These blocks, cut from the original stone, were made into a veneer that covers the new bridge so its surface looks like its sister bridges. It has a natural, rough look, some of which had to be chiseled by hand to achieve the identical surfacing. The wing walls are of new stone, but Riiska insisted that the end walls have reveals or tapered ends for definition.  

There is granite capstone on the top of the stone blocks and there is also drainage for the original flower planters which will be placed again at the ends of the new bridge.

Riiska estimates that beautifying the new bridge added a cost of about $150,000 to the project. The state is responsible for one half the total expense, which was roughly $1.2 million.  The town of Norfolk is paying $600,000, the amount approved by a public town vote.

Riiska said he will now focus on the more ordinary bridge being repaired on Mountain Rd. at the corner of West Side Rd. This bridge will involve considerable planning and negotiations, but fortunately does not have sister bridges or historical significance. Linda Perkins  in the meantime, is turning her attention to the repair of the Virginia split rail fence.