New bridge raised into place

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Here it is, hot off the press. 

This bridge was raised into place across Route 316 in Andover, CT, and will provide a vital link for users along the Airline Trail across this busy road. The bridge was mostly prefabricated off-site, with the final stages involving a shut down of the road on last FRI evening to allow removal of electrical and phone/cable lines and transport of the bridge to the site yesterday (SAT), when it was set into place by the oversized red crane you see in this photo. This was a giant step forward for this part of the East Coast Greenway (ECG) in Connecticut. Slowly, this 200 mile long gem is getting completed, thanks to the incredible perseverance of a few believers like Bill O"Neill (CT trail building Grampa from Manchester), Rob Dexter (hardworking ECG ambassador from West Hartford who manages to be in lots of key places along the ECG around the State). There are a few believers hoping for similar good things to happen to close the 9.1 mile gap in the trail from Southington through Plainville and into Farmington. Hopefully, that too will involve a bridge across US Route 6 in Farmington for a safe and pleasant trail crossing of that busy road. God grant us all a similar large dose of patience, perseverance, and political will to accomplish all this.
And, not to be outdone, Peter Marteka has written a great piece (click here) for the Hartford Courant (one of 10 on just this bridge) where he gives credit to CT Legislator Pam Sawyer for dreaming her dream about this momentous day. Let's include Peter himself in that dreamer category as well.
Stay tuned.

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