As of December 1, 2023, the Donahue Road Bridge replacement is officially open to the public, and was celebrated with a ribbon cutting. After a challenging summer with many days of heavy rain, the road is now open to the public for the winter as promised.
In 2019, the Town went to bond for the replacement of five bridges, with Donahue Road being number four on the Town's list. The original plan was that under the new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the bridge project would be funded 100% using Federal and State funds at no-cost to the Town. Design of the bridge was under the Department’s Design Managed by State or DMS program, where the Department utilizes their On-Call design firms to develop construction plans, which is also at no-cost to the Town of Granby. The Department’s Consultant Liaison Engineer, CHA Consulting Inc., began preliminary engineering in the winter of 2019, and Mott McDonald began final design plans in the spring of 2021. Requests for a bridge construction contractor and an engineering inspection company were selected in early 2023. Rights of way from abutting property owners were signed, utilities were moved, surveys were created, trees were cut, and many other approvals were signed. On July 10, 2023, the road was closed to all traffic and the actual construction began.
On behalf of the Town of Granby, Kirk Severance, Director of Granby Public Works, would like to personally thank all those that were affected by the detour and the patience they displayed. Director Severance would also like to thank CHA Consulting, the CDOT team, M&J Engineering, and Brunelli Construction for all their dedication and making this project a successful one.