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Colton S-curve project a ‘Modern Marvel’

Posted 8/9/12

In the first photo from Bruce Dana Photography, looking to the north, you can see the old roadbed descending to the left and the new bridge approach to the right. The second photo shows the skeleton …

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Colton S-curve project a ‘Modern Marvel’

Posted

In the first photo from Bruce Dana Photography, looking to the north, you can see the old roadbed descending to the left and the new bridge approach to the right. The second photo shows the skeleton of the new bridge in place crossing the old road that is still in use.

COLTON – What has been the landmark S-curve along Rt. 56 between South Colton and Sevey’s Corners is being transformed into a much less dramatic bridge crossing of Cold Brook.

“The straight route should be welcomed by most regular travelers and unnoticed perhaps by new folks passing over, yes I said passing over what we used to pass through,” said Bruce Dana, who drives through that section regularly.

Dana, an accomplished photographer, has taken some photos of recent developments at the site.

“I remember thinking Tuesday when I saw they had the steel I beams there that it would probably be awhile before they get them into place. The very next day, Aug. 8, there they are sitting pretty on their cement foundations. Now if they have that bridge open next week when I go back through to the Tri-Lakes I'll really be impressed,” Dana said, joking. The project, while well under way, is not scheduled to be finished until the fall of 2013, according to the state Department of Transportation.

They are not just rebuilding the road bed that was undermined in a flash flood of the Cold Brook in 2005. As they have rerouted the road in a $4.6 million upgrade, engineers “masterfuly took the terrain that was there and reshaped it into a ramp and bridge that will take us right up and over what we used to wind down and through and around,” Dana said.

For decades the big, tight S-curve in the mountainous terrain has been a landmark along the route, and a terror to drivers who might encounter a fully loaded log truck coming the other way. There were big “15 MPH” signs and flashing yellow caution lights at each end of the section.

After the flood, the road was closed for a time, with detours around that part of the road that took drivers several miles out of their way. DOT opened the road again after they shored up the bed and placed one-lane steel decking over a portion of the roadway, and managed traffic with automated traffic lights at either end.

“I must say over the last few years my only real frustration has been when going through there later at night and you sit at that automated traffic signal and you know the chances are good that there isn't anyone coming through from the other side but you have to wait a few minutes for the electronic marvel of the automated device to decide that and change the light to green again so you can proceed,” Dana said. “I realize that it is for the safety of everyone , but I can't help thinking of all those years when there was no stop signal, just a flashing caution light.”

“I compare this major project to some of the Modern Marvels episodes broadcast on the History Channel over the years,” Dana said.