Groton ― The preliminary design for a project to replace the Groton Long Point Road Bridge and make the structure safer and more resilient in the face of rising sea levels is under review.

Consulting engineer AECOM presented a preliminary design for the bridge and causeway Tuesday to the Town Council at its Committee of the Whole meeting. The plan calls for two 11-foot travel lanes, two 5-foot bike lanes, and a 5½-foot sidewalk, though the Groton Long Point Association Board of Directors is asking to remove from the project a sidewalk from the bridge to East Shore Avenue.

The bridge is a critical piece of infrastructure, as the only vehicular bridge that connects Groton Long Point and Mumford Cove with the rest of Groton, Project Manager Andre St. Germain said. The population of Groton Long Point was 530, according to the 2020 census.

The state has rated the existing bridge, which was built in 1935 and has two 12-foot travel lanes and two 3-foot shoulders, in “poor condition,” a condition before “serious” and then “critical,” St. Germain said. The rating is a major driving factor for the project ― the bridge is still safe, he said, but it’s important to address it now while it’s not an emergency.

The goal is to make the bridge safer for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists, provide a causeway capable of withstanding storm surge, build an easy-to-maintain structure that complements the area and build it in an economical fashion, while minimizing impacts to the environment, he said.

The preliminary design would widen the bridge by about 5 feet, to 41 feet, and increase the length from 50 feet to 86 feet, according to a town document. The proposed sidewalk would run from Esker Point Beach to East Shore Avenue.

The design takes into account that in 2050, sea levels are projected to rise by about 20 inches, St. Germain said. He explained that raising the bridge by 6 feet to accommodate federal design standards is not feasible due to the impact on surrounding properties, but the government allows design exceptions if meeting the criteria is unreasonable. The proposal is to elevate the bridge by about 4 feet to 13.3 feet at its top elevation.

The project was estimated to cost about $6.7 million in 2021, but that does not account for right of way acquisition, the cost to relocate utilities, or inflation, St. Germain said. One option for funding is to apply to a program in which the federal government covers 80% of the cost and the town covers 20%, but the town also could apply to a new program, available due to the new infrastructure law, in which the federal government would cover the full cost.

St. Germain presented a proposed timeline to start final design next year, complete it in 2024, and then start construction in 2025, with the goal of finishing construction in 2026.

Greg Hanover, the town’s public works director, said planning for the project goes back a decade but the project stalled for some years due to a lack of funding, though the town continued moving it forward. The first public listening session to get input on the project was held in 2012 and the most recent one was in 2019. He said an ad-hoc working group began meeting in October 2020 to provide comments to the engineers as they developed the preliminary plans. The group included members of the Town Council, Representative Town Meeting, Groton Long Point Association and the Groton Resilience and Sustainability Task Force.

Groton Long Point Association President Michael Flynn sent the town a letter last month on behalf of the association’s board of directors in which the board supported the project but not a sidewalk from the bridge to East Shore Avenue.

At Tuesday’s meeting, he said that a fishing pier, not a sidewalk, is needed. He said a fishing pier would keep fishermen away from the roadway and provide a cement barrier, rather than a sidewalk which a car could veer into and hurt somebody.

Councilors at Tuesday’s meeting made suggestions, including about the importance of incorporating a barrier to deter children from jumping off the bridge in the summer, adding a reflective barrier to better shield pedestrians and cyclists from cars, and researching the potential for a combination of a fishing pier and sidewalk.

Town Manager John Burt said Thursday that the council plans to review a few other design options before selecting one to present at a public information session this summer that has not yet been scheduled.

k.drelich@theday.com