Stowe Street bridge work kicks into high gear; Lincoln St. closes Monday
August 8, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti Work on building a new bridge over the Thatcher Brook along Vermont Route 100 in Waterbury kicked into high gear this week with a 450-ton-capacity crane at the worksite unloading and putting into place giant precast concrete bridge sections.
The view across the bridge construction site from Stowe Street on Wednesday evening, Aug. 6. Photo by Gordon Miller
The $4.34 million Vermont Agency of Transportation project is replacing the two-lane bridge on Stowe Street built in 1928. The new bridge will be wider than the old structure with three lanes, shoulders, and a sidewalk, including a dedicated turning lane for traffic headed north from Stowe Street onto Route 100.
Work began in early June with demolition starting after the bridge was closed on June 19. State project managers last week announced an updated target opening date for the new span as Aug. 26, nine days later than originally anticipated. The project has fallen slightly behind schedule so far due to issues with deep bedrock in the brook and some adjustments needed to accommodate a buried municipal water line in the path of the new bridge.
This past week, crews from J. Hutchins in Richmond added overnight work shifts, which are expected to continue for the next two weeks. The crane was added to the construction site on Aug. 4, and it’s been unloading and positioning concrete sections of the new bridge. Project officials said the construction will involve 37 such pieces that were made by Fort Miller Precast, in Fort Miller, New York. Each piece weighs nearly 90,000 pounds.
Road closure update
The project so far has required the road closure of Stowe Street at the Route 100 intersection. As the bridge frame pieces are delivered, crews have needed to use the shoulder and part of one travel lane along Route 100 near the job site, which has impacted traffic through the busy stretch just north of the Interstate 89 on- and off-ramps at Exit 10. Afternoon traffic has been particularly slowed through the area this week, with delays stretching along Route 100 and into downtown Waterbury.
Beginning on Monday, Aug. 11, at 6:30 a.m. Lincoln Street adjacent to Stowe Street will be closed to vehicle traffic. Construction crews will use the space for staging project equipment and material. The nearby state Park and Ride parking lot has been closed since June with that site being used during the bridge project for the contractor to stage vehicles, materials and other equipment as well. A temporary Park and Ride lot has been designated at the State Office Complex in downtown Waterbury near the end of Randall Street.
The contractor is authorized to have Lincoln Street closed for up to 21 days, but project officials say they are aiming to keep that closure to just 14 days, with the target reopening date being Aug. 22. The Lincoln Street closure blocks vehicle access to downtown Waterbury. Pedestrian access will remain open, but motorists will encounter a long, signed detour using Perry Hill Road, Kneeland Flats Road, and Guptil Road to direct traffic back to Route 100.
A VTrans map shows the detour for motorists during the Lincoln Street closure scheduled for Aug. 11-22.
According to the latest project update on Friday, Aug. 8, crews will continue work to set the precast frame pieces in place over the coming days. Once that is completed, they will apply a membrane and backfill around the new structure. Nighttime work is anticipated to continue, Sunday through Thursday, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., for the next two weeks.
Project officials caution that all of the dates announced are subject to change based on multiple factors such as weather and overall progress with construction.
Once the new bridge and Lincoln Street are reopened later this month, motorists can expect to encounter alternating one-way traffic controlled by flaggers. Some final steps will include adjustments to the traffic signal at the Route 100-Stowe Street intersection, they said.
The first day of the 2025-26 school year for the Harwood Unified Union School District is Wednesday, Aug. 27. School officials say they are monitoring progress with the bridge project to determine what impacts it may have on buses and school-related traffic.
For more information, see the latest Road Work update posted on the Roundabout Road Work page here.