Bridge Replacement for the Paugussett Indy Link

2025: Marc Rowen and Jeff Belair 
on the new bridge

Two new bridges in one month! This one was a replacement for Scout bridge on the Paugussett Trail just north of Independence Drive. There was no way the old bridge was going to make it thru another winter.  Maybe not even another week. There was rot everywhere.  

2013: Bridge installed by Daniel Vigezzi & Crew
Troop 27

This bridge had been through a lot. It was originally installed in 2013 by Daniel Vigezzi and Troop 27 as an Eagle Scout project back when the Paugussett Trail was brand new in this part of town. But the land is very wet with lots of roots, and over the next few years the chosen route turned into a muddy soup during the wet season. 

2020: Bridge moved by Marc Santacapita & Crew
Troop 19

So in 2020 we shifted the wettest section of the trail with the help of more Scouts. Marc Santacapita & Troop 19 moved Daniel's bridge to the a new location, which is just below the confluence of two intermittent streams. This spot has been backing up and flooding a few times a year, with water flowing over the trail. The bridge was well-pinned, so it never floated away, but it obstruct the flow at times. 

2025: Patched by Mark Vollaro in 2024, the bridge
is super punky and trapping leaves and sticks

In 2024, we noted that the bridge was getting a bit punky, but it was late in the season and pretty cold when one of the beams cracked in the center, with one side of the bridge visibly sagging. Mark Vollaro administered an emergency patch to get it through the winter, which included a stack of cinder blocks under the cracked section.  We meant to replace the bridge in 2025 while the stream bed was dry, but ran out of time. It seemed this would be a 2026 project. But during a November trail monitoring check, I saw that sticks and leaves had packed in under the bridge due to the cinder blocks. It looked like a beaver dam under there, and the water was higher on one side. And the beams were punkier than ever. If the bridge didn't collapse on a hiker, a big storm might just blow it out. And the trail was likely to then be impassable. 

Terry designed a replacement bridge and spent
a morning getting lumber to the site with Teresa

So Terry Gallagher drew up a bridge plan and supply list, and we spent a Saturday morning getting the lumber onsite. It sounds simple, and it is, but it's time consuming. First there was the truck rental, then endlessly picking through boards at Home Depot to find good ones, loading the rental truck, unloading the truck, returning the truck (and gassing it back up), and carrying all those heavy boards down the trail. It took all morning.

Terry's plan called for heavier timbers than the original bridge, and for the bridge to be placed on 5x5s to raise it up and allow for flood waters to flow unobstructed. This should also give it the wood better air flow so it's less prone to rot. 

Mark and Jeff pulled decking off the old bridge

After we got the wood onsite, I put out a request for help to a core group of volunteers to start working on the bridge. Jeff Belair and Mark Rowen both offered to help, so the three of us met at the site and got to work.  Having Jeff there for a construction project is a huge help since he has a ton of carpentry experience and knows how to get things done. 

The old frame crumpled from rot when it was tossed aside. 

Jeff and Mark quickly fabricated the two beams and walked one end of each across the old bridge, then used them as planks while they unscrewed the decking off the old bridge. When they flipped the old bridge frame off to the side, both of the old beams promptly crumpled. So much rot! Hard to believe the bridge had still been standing. 

So much rot! This is one of the two beams holding it up

Mark cleared out the clogged channel

As I started cutting up the boards, Mark donned a pair of waders and started cleaning out the sticks and leaves that had dammed up there. I had removed a lot of a few days earlier, but there was still plenty to pull out of there. Mark was just officially appointed to the Trails Committee by the Board of Aldermen, so we joked that this was his initiation. The cinder blocks were temporarily left in place in order to support one of the beams while they worked on it. 

Jeff attached the frame spacers

Jeff somehow managed to keep his feet dry through all of this, which is a special talent. After assembling the frame, the guys set it on four 5x5 landscaping timbers, taking care to level them out with rocks. This was all going very quickly. 

Jeff and Mark raised the frame up on 5x5 landscaping timbers

While Jeff installed the decking at the speed of light, Mark dismantled what was left of the old bridge, and we carried all the old boards up to the road. 

Jeff installed the decking and then crafted steps
using left-over lumber

Once the decking was done, Jeff improvised a step on each side using boards that were left over. The old bridge decking was nearly level with the trail, but this new bridge decking was maybe 18" up. The steps were a great addition. 

It's done!

And just like that, the bridge was done! It took just over three hours to construct. It actually took longer than that just to get the lumber there. 

Teresa returned to fix a nearby tilted
section of bog walk 

But wait, there's more! The other issue I had noted during my trail inspection was a nearby section of bogwalk that had rotated and was now tilted at a sharp angle. It would be impossible to walk on if wet and slippery. It had been a problem for a few years because the supporting 6x6's "sleepers" were too short for the soupy mud there. But it had suddenly gotten much worse because a couple nearby small trees had begun to uproot, pulling up the ground under one side of the bogwalk.  I worked on that for the rest of the afternoon. I cut away the root balls from under the bogwalk and then added three landscaping timbers that were nice and long to spread the weight out across the muck. Much better!

A nice end to the day!

Trail Monitoring Example: The Paugussett

See the big white mattress off to the left? 
It's on the edge of Indian Well Road. 

We're always asking for help with trail monitoring. People ask us what is involved and aren't always clear about it. So here's an example of trail monitoring. Over the weekend, I hiked the south end of the Paugussett from the falls area at Indian Well to Buddington Road, maybe five miles.  The Paugussett is a long trail where some sections get hiked frequently and others rarely, so I wanted one long hike where I would see it all before heading into winter. 

The first issue was a big white mattress dumped of the side of Indian Well Road. An eyesore for hikers, but not visible from the road. I noted the exact location so I could explain it to the DOT. 

Log across the trail

Then there was a new log across the trail. Easy enough to step over, but should get cut eventually. My foot in the photo is for scale and I noted the exact location. Note that we intentionally leave some logs across certain trails, especially at Birchbank, to discourage wheeled traffic. So it helps to be familiar with the trail. I also removed some sticks from the trail and picked up some litter. 

The base of the sign is broken

When I got to Rt 110, I saw that the blue oval "Paugussett Trail" sign was leaning. I examined the base and found it had snapped in two. Another issue for the CT DOT. 

Patio umbrella below Sinsabaugh Heights

When the trail reached the edge of the Sinsabaugh Heights Senior Housing, there was some litter that had blown in, including a big patio umbrella that I folded up and left at the base of one of the buildings. There was also a bird feeder that maybe a bear dragged into the bushes. I couldn't get it because it was in thorny raspberries and I wasn't prepared for that. 

Yet more piles of landscaping debris at Mayflower Lane

Mayflower Lane has always been problem, and for years people have been leaving big piles of lawn debris at the edge of the trail. There's always a fresh new pile, but it's hard to say which house it came from (possibly several houses). I've put up official signs and they get ripped down. It's frankly embarrassing. That's our trail entrance and we want it to look nice, not like a waste pile. Sure enough, there was a fresh pile of bright red ornamental Japanese Maple leaves. Grrr. 

Caught in action, House #30 

But wait, this time the culprit was obvious! A few houses up the road there was a big blue tarp in the road with the same leaves being gathered. I spoke with the homeowner at 30 Mayflower Lane, who said he dumped his leaves in the open space at the trailhead, but claimed it was OK because he wasn't dumping "IN" the trail, but at the edge of it, and there are already leaves there, so it doesn't matter. In terms of trail monitoring, having photos and a record of who exactly is causing problems is quite helpful.  The homeowner can later be notified in writing, and any subsequent violations are then a "knowing" violation and more subject to penalties. 

A bit shaggy but not horrible

The section beyond Meadow Street looked OK. A bit shaggy here and there, which was not surprising since I hadn't been there for a few months, but not bad. The bog walk and stepping stones installed last year were in good shape.  

The Eversource work completed last year is finally regrowing

Crossing Wellington and heading towards Independence Drive, it was nice to see everything growing back where Eversource had turned the trail into a construction site. A much nicer walk and the ground seemed more firm.

Tilted bog walk section

Back into the woods just before Independence Drive I noted a bog walk section was very tilted and not something you would want to step on if wet. This was problem before that had gotten worse. 

Houston, we have a problem

This brought me to the only critical trail issue: A rotting bridge that was turning into a dam of leaves and sticks. This has been on the todo list for the Trails Committee all season. A temporary fix was done previously to prevent the bridge from collapsing, with cinder blocks placed in the brook to hold up the bridge, but those cinder blocks were obstructing the water and the top three blocks had shifted over the fourth block. The brook frequently floods to the top of the bridge with a strong current, so this bridge may not survive the winter. 

Hope Lake

The rest of the hike through Shelton Lakes had no problems. The trails in the greenway get more use, and problems are more likely to be reported. There was some erosion going up the hill past Eklund Garden, that was it. 

Eklund Garden

The three new Rosebay Rhododendron at Eklund Garden seemed to be in good shape (I watered them all summer with jugs of water from home). The Oak Leafed Hydrangea still had it's leaves and some nice color. 

After a monitoring hike: The hiker shares their findings (both positive and negative) with us. Saying, "I walked the trail and everything looked fine" is valuable to us, because then we don't need to wonder if there are any trees down across the trail or whatever. 

How to be a Trail Monitor: There are two options. First, on a casual basis, you can simple walk any trail and send us your findings. Second, you can become a more formal Shelton Trail Monitor, where you are listed as a person who routinely checks a specific trail and alerts us to any issues. See https://sheltontrailscom.blogspot.com/p/shelton-trail-monitors.html for the monitors currently listed, although we honestly don't know if they are all still actively monitoring their trails.  A trail can have more than one listed monitor.  The email to use is conservation@cityofshelton.org. You can also post issues to our Facebook Group  

What happens after a monitoring hike?  In this case, since I'm a trail manager and work for the city, I'm the one responding to these issues.  But normally a Trail Monitor would not be expected to address the issues themselves unless it is easy to do so on the spot (like the umbrella that blew in from Sinsabaugh). 

For the Paugussett inspection, I've contacted the state DOT about the mattress and the broken sign. I've added the log across the trail on the Trails Committee's chainsaw map. I shared a photo of the bridge near Independence Drive with the Trails Committee and talked about its precarious condition, so there are some tentative plans to possibly work on that over the Thanksgiving weekend. The resident at Mayflower will get a letter in the mail. And I may take a string trimmer and hedge trimmer to the trail between Meadow and Independence. Note that none of these actions would have been taken if the monitor hike hadn't occurred, because "out of sight, out of mind." 

Murdered Tree Takes Revenge on the Trail

The friendly twin oak anchored the trail

Sometimes nature fights back. We had a nice specimen of an oak tree anchoring the Paugussett Trail near the Indian Well - Birchbank border, but in 2022 somebody girdled it and drilled holes for herbicide injection and it's been rotting away ever since. The twin tree, which was holding up the trail on this steep hillside, recently uprooted. One trunk fell away, leaving a 4-foot deep hole in the trail. The other trunk got hung up on surrounding trees, but its unstable root mass was pulling up on the trail tread about a foot. Walking on it was like walking on a floating bog or springs, with the danger of a foot breaking through and dropping into the void. On a windy day, as the surrounding tree swayed, the root ball heaved with the wind and the trail tread rose up and down. See a video of that: https://youtu.be/ZGZst5btaIg

Several hours were spent cutting away the roots of the partly
uprooted trunk so it won't take out the hillside when it goes

Another fear was that when the tree finally falls, it would take out a big chunk of the hillside in a spot with no room to shift the trail over. Hard to see in the photos, but it's very tricky terrain, steep and full of slick ledges. It might make the trail impassible. So some of the roots were dug out and cut away, and dirt from the base of the tree was scraped off to start filling in the hole. The trail tread dropped abruptly when key roots were cut. The tree trunk did not shift when the roots were cut, but the trail sure did! The trail tread had dropped about a foot when the work was done. In the photo above, where the roots are sticking out, that's where to top of the ground was before the roots were cut.

In 2022, someone girdle the tree...

The kicker is that in 2022, when the tree was poisoned, we had just recently relocated the trail further down the hill -- with great effort -- because the house directly up the hill at 73 Hickory Lane had recently cut down all the trees along the trail behind their home. This was presumably to get a view of the Housatonic River, but some of the trees were likely within the state park. So we moved the trail down the hill into the trees and then this happened. Girdling a tree in a state park -- not just a tree, but a blazed tree marking a 90-year-old hiking trail -- is pretty audacious, but they seem to have gotten away with it. Grrrr. 

...and drilled holes for herbicide

To top it off with a cherry, the same house up above is now harboring a big infestation of invasive Mile-a-Minute Vine, which took over after the trees were cut, and is now spreading down the hillside and into the state park for hundreds of feet. It would take over the trail (can grow up to 6" in a day) and so it needs to be monitored and pulled several times during the summer. So much extra work made necessary by one abutting landowner: The trail reroute, repairs for the tree that was killed, and pulling invasives. 

Curtiss Brook Trail Completed

Trail Map (Click to enlarge) 

The Curtiss Brook Trail project has been completed and seems to be a success! As a recap, this new trail was first proposed after seeing so many high school students over the years squeezing along the edge of Shelton Ave, a state highway, on their way to and from the school. A retaining wall and guardrail leave no room for pedestrians. But the land down the embankment along Curtiss Brook is City-owned open space.  The Trails Committee and Conservation Department have no control over highways or sidewalks, but we can build trails through open space. So that's what we did. (Click HERE for an earlier post about that).

Before: No room for pedestrians above the retaining wall
(click photos to enlarge)

Before: Traffic coming to a stop because there is not enough
room to pass while a crew of teens gets as close to the guardrail
as they can. 

The new trail is surprisingly scenic and more than just an alternative to a sidewalk. It's a way to explore the previously hidden valley below the Pine Lake dam. During the wet season, the sound of the brook below echoes across the valley and drowns out the sounds of traffic. A small spur leads down to the edge of the brook where one can linger with a morning cup of coffee. 

After: Curtiss Brook Trail offers a safer and more scenic option

After: Students at dusk are able to get off the highway for a bit

This new trail was a real team effort, with scores of volunteers and multiple committees and departments involved: 

• Conservation staff (Teresa Gallagher) proposed the trail and marked a trail route.
• Mark Vollaro and Ray Hansen cut logs that were in the way. 
• An April work party was held jointly by the Trails Committee, Anti-Litter Committee, and Shelton Clean-Up Project to start digging the trail into the side of the hill and remove decades of litter. The Shelton Highways & Bridges Department removed the large pile that had been collected. Click HERE for an earlier post about that work party. 
• An October work party was held by the Trails Committee to continue digging the trail into the hillside and to clear a spur to the brook. Click HERE for an earlier blog post about the work party. 
• Mark Rowan cut several logs across the brook spur.
• Teresa Gallagher, Conservation Department, continued with extensive earthwork, removing another five large bags of litter in the process. The Highways & Bridge Department carted some of the bags away that were too heavy to carry. She then painted trail blazes, routered and installed trail signs, and created a trail map. 
• The Trails Committee held a mini-work party in November to build a bridge across a steep culvert swale. Terry Gallagher designed the bridge, built footings, and purchased hardware. Mark Rowen and Teresa Gallagher met at Home Depot to procure lumber, hauled in Mark's truck. The bridge was constructed the next day by Team Gallagher, Jeff Belair, and Bill Dyer.  Steps to the bridge were designed and constructed the next week by Teresa Gallagher, with lumber procured by Terry Gallagher. Click HERE for an earlier post about the bridge. 

And so now we have a new trail. Enjoy some more "befores" and "afters." And if you want to check out the new trail, just pull into the Pine Lake parking lot and the new trail is to the far right (with your back to the highway). Do NOT get on the Rec Path or cross the bridge over the dam. 

Before: Base of the retaining wall buried under decades
of dumped materials 1-3 feet deep

After: The base of the wall has been revealed and
leveled out for the trail

Before: The routing is raked off and flagged but not dug in yet

After: the treadway has been dug in and a bridge constructed

Before the bridge was built.
(some rocks had been place temporarily)

After the bridge was constructed

New Bridge for Curtiss Brook Trail

All done! Note the sharp drop off.

The new Curtiss Brook Trail now has a bridge where water sometimes spills down from a Shelton Avenue culvert. It was the one spot that every new hiker on the trail mentioned as being a problem. We've never built a trail bridge that had a sharp drop off to one side, so this was a tricky one! 

Terry Gallagher spent hours building up some footings

As is so often the case with construction projects, most of the work involves preparation.  Terry Gallagher had already spent about five hours working on the footings one weekend, then drafted up some detailed construction plans and a list of materials needed. At the next Trails Committee meeting, members decided to build the bridge that Saturday, which set off a flurry of activity. 

Lumber delivery was courtesy of Mark Rowan and his truck 

Getting lumber to the work site is a major challenge. The big box stores will not deliver to a trail, and even if they did, the materials would be left next to a road and subject to theft. Thankfully, Mark Rowan offered his truck on Friday. Teresa Gallagher and Mark met at Home Depot, got some of the 12' boards cut to 6', and dropped everything off near the work site. They left the boards tucked in the woods, covered with black plastic and a layer of leaves and sticks to discourage theft. 

Terry Gallagher worked on the bridge footings

The bridge work party was scheduled to start at 10 am, but the footings still needed work. Team Gallagher set out at 8 am to get things set up. Teresa started cutting boards and Terry worked on the footings. 

Terry found this while looking for rocks 

Jeff Belair and Bill Dyer showed up to lend a hand. Jeff has a lot of carpentry experience and once the footings were done, the bridge construction went surprisingly quick. 

Jeff Belair and Terry Gallagher framing the bridge. 
Note the culvert up above.

Terry and Jeff made a great team

The bridge was done by lunchtime and the crew celebrated with pizza and beer over at BADSONS. 

Jeff Belair and Bill Dyer on the new bridge

The bridge still needed some kind of steps, though, because it was a 15" step up from the trail tread. 

Working on the steps 

Teresa Gallagher came up with a plan for that tricky, erosion-prone spot, and built the steps. Terry Gallagher got the lumber and cut it to length. A box using 5" landscaping timbers was chosen for the lower step in order to hold the soil on this precarious slope, with three more timbers across the box for the 2nd step. Much of the time spent building the steps was leveling up the base with rocks and such. But now it's done and the culvert crossing is a piece of cake to get across.

All done! This is looking towards the Pine Lake dam.

And here's what it looked like beforehand, and that's during a dry spell. Imagine water running down that slope and freezing. Yikes! 

Same spot a few weeks earlier