I95 Morning Show Applies Pressure to State for Bridge Repair on Behalf of New Milford

The bridge is out at Harrybrooke Park and New Milford State Rep Billy "Mo" Buckbee is on the case. Joining Buckbee, in an unwelcome fashion is the I95 Morning Show with Ethan & Lou.

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We learned last week that the exit bridge at Harrybrooke Park in New Milford had to be closed for safety reasons and we immediately thought of "Mo." Before Billy Buckbee was a New Milford State Representative or Santa, we all knew his as "Mo."

Not only is Mo a State Rep and the best Santa money can buy, he's also the Executive Director of Harrybrooke Park and we spoke to him about the issue on Friday (1/21/22).

We wanted to get the particulars about the condition of the bridge and find out what the next move is for the park. Before we did all that, we had to make ourselves look stupid and ask questions we should have know the answers to. (Full interview available at top of page.)

Buckbee told us the following:

"The bridge is in bad shape. Yeah, I believe this is the second bridge that was built there and my guess is, I don't have official documentation on it but I think it was the flood of '55, when it had to be replaced last."

He told us the bridge has been closed for safety reasons but it's not so bad that the structure will collapse. Buckbee also relayed to us the estimates he's received on the bridge saying "we're looking at $2 million dollars to restore it. Forget about replacing it, just to restore it to get it back where it needs to be."

Later, we spoke about what is next? How does the Town of New Milford and/or the Park move ahead with such a hefty price tag lingering in the air? Buckbee replied:

"We may have an opportunity, I think it's about $125,000 to make a temporary solution where we can use the bridge for probably, another 2-3 years until we can raise the $2,000,000 to restore it and that's where we have to get a hold of a dear friend of both of ours who is going to be overseeing some of that Federal funding for infrastructure."

Buckbee was referring to CT Tax Commissioner Mark Boughton. After we wrapped our discussion with "Mo", I texted former Danbury Mayor Boughton to see if I could put in a good word and get the wheels in motion for New Milford. Boughton responded to the text right away, saying: "It's a big ole' process, we're going to take a close look at the application if they send it." 

This is what I call process, how many people did you text to see about fixing the bridge? Would none people be an accurate number?