The Walk Bridge Towers Leave by the Weekend. East Avenue Changes for Years.

Two steel towers, each 234 feet tall, have stood over the Norwalk River for more than a century. This fall they are being taken down. The work runs on a short list of weekend rail outages that ends November 1. The changes Norwalk will live with longest sit a few blocks east, on East Avenue, Fort Point Street and the East Norwalk platform, on a schedule that runs to the end of the decade.

The towers are the part of the Walk Bridge project everyone can see from the North Water Street lot, from the Stamford-bound train, or from a boat in the harbor. They are also the part that finishes first.

A Bridge That Opened in 1896

The Walk Bridge opened in 1896. According to Norwalk Current's account of the September announcement, it is the oldest movable bridge still standing on the Northeast Corridor, the rail line between Washington, D.C., and Boston. It carries about 175 trains and 125,000 passengers a day.

Its reliability is why it's being replaced. CTDOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said at that press conference that the bridge was last rehabilitated in 1990 and kept failing afterward: 12 times in 2011, 16 times in 2013, and twice in one two-week stretch in 2014. State and city officials gathered at the North Water Street lot to mark the start of tower removal, and Eucalitto summed up what it means for the city's silhouette:

"It really is the start of a dramatic change to the city of Norwalk's skyline."

The replacement will not fill the same sky. The new lift towers will be about 100 feet shorter than the ones coming down. CTDOT's design calls for two 240-foot movable lift spans with fixed approach spans on either side. Mayor Barbara Smyth acknowledged the loss when she spoke. "For so long, these towers have stood as part of Norwalk's skyline," she said, adding that there is "immense excitement about what comes next."

The skyline changed before any tower steel moved. Crews first had to take down 31 cables strung between the towers, about nine miles of wire. Eversource had already moved two live 115-kilovolt transmission lines off the bridge, running them underground through the streets and beneath the riverbed. The web of overhead lines that framed the towers for decades is gone already.

The Weekend Clock

The state scheduled five weekends of reduced train service between September 12 and November 1, with two more held in reserve in case of bad weather. The CTDOT schedule release divides the work into two phases, and the cut in seats is very different between them.

So the hardest weekends for riders are already over. On the September wire weekends, trains ran roughly every 90 minutes through the work zone. The October tower weekends take away less capacity. Service between Grand Central and Stamford is generally unaffected. The reductions fall between Stamford and New Haven, with shuttle trains between New Haven and Bridgeport. For the outage weekends, the state is offering free weekend parking at the Stamford Transportation Center and the South Norwalk parking garage. The MTA's rider alert has the full timetables.

NancyOnNorwalk published a photo record of the first weekend, with images dated September 13. The official schedule calls the September weekends wire work and saves "high tower work" for October. The bulletin for the week of October 12 lists round-the-clock bridge work but gives no tally of how much tower steel has come down. The project site links to live construction cameras for anyone who wants to follow it.

This Week Around the River

The towers stand in the middle of a working construction zone, and the closures around them change from week to week. CTDOT's bulletin for the week of October 12 lists these:

• North Water Street is closed between Marshall Street and Washington Street through Wednesday, October 14, and again Friday, October 16 through Sunday, October 18, during daytime and overnight windows.
• East Avenue and Fort Point Street: East Avenue closes at Fort Point Street overnight, Monday through Friday, 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
• East Avenue at Gregory Boulevard and Cemetery Street: weekdays, 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., traffic shifts to the west side of the road for drainage work, and pedestrians follow a posted detour.
• The bridge itself is under construction around the clock, Monday through Saturday.

The project's own update feed says access to the Ironworks businesses on North Water Street stays open in front of the building during the closure. The same feed lists weekday daytime closures of Osborne Avenue beneath the railroad between Fort Point Street and Rowan Street, with pedestrian, business and garage access maintained.

The Maritime Aquarium is open daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and its garage and North Water Street lot sit right beside it. Washington Prime, at the corner of Washington and Water streets, is open for brunch and reservations.

The river has its own schedule. CTDOT's construction map lists intermittent closures of the eastern and western Norwalk River channels from October 9 through October 30 for deliveries and construction. One channel stays open throughout. Boaters are directed to follow the navigation signs and the marine police on VHF channel 13.

East Norwalk Gets the Longer Calendar

The tower work and the East Norwalk work are on separate tracks, and the station shows how they overlap. East Norwalk station is closed in both directions through October 18, the same day the last listed high-tower weekend ends. Until then, trains stop at South Norwalk and Westport. East Norwalk parking permits are honored at the 182 East Avenue commuter lot, the station's north lot is closed, and Norwalk Transit is running an extra weekday Wheels Route 5 bus between East Norwalk and South Norwalk.

The station closure is a three-week interruption inside a much longer rebuild. Construction on the new East Norwalk station began in March 2024 and is planned to last about four years. The finished station gets longer platforms, canopies, better parking and access, and a drop-off lane.

Two related projects, which CTDOT groups under the name TIME-2, will change the streets around the station for good.

1. The East Avenue railroad bridge is being replaced, and East Avenue will be lowered and rebuilt between Fort Point Street and Winfield Street. Clearance under the rail bridge goes from 12 feet 2 inches to 14 feet 3 inches.
2. The Fort Point Street railroad bridge is also being replaced, and Fort Point Street will be realigned to meet South Smith Street, with wider lanes, sidewalks and bike lanes.

The extra two feet and one inch on East Avenue will outlast anything that happens on the river this month. The Fort Point Street realignment will change how one East Norwalk intersection works for every driver, cyclist and pedestrian who uses it. These are the parts of the Walk Bridge program that people in East Norwalk will cross every day long after the towers are gone.

What Comes After the Steel

Once the towers are down, crews move on to dismantling the old bridge itself. CTDOT says construction began in spring 2023, should take about seven years, and the new bridge is expected in service in 2030. Eucalitto said in September that more than 250 workers are on the job and the project is on schedule for 2030.

The new spans will be assembled in pieces. CTDOT's project FAQ says two weekend track outages will accommodate the float-in. Those weekends will be the next point at which the project changes the river all at once, the way the tower removal is doing now.

CTDOT also lists benefits for the waterfront once the work is done: bike and pedestrian trails, a new city dock, and educational panels along the river. The Norwalk Redevelopment Agency describes the Harbor Loop Trail as part of a five-mile loop with the Norwalk River Valley Trail. Some sections are still unfinished, and design work is planned at the Maritime Aquarium, 130 East Avenue and 148 East Avenue. CTDOT presents the waterfront pieces as planned benefits, and its benefits page gives them no completion dates.

The century-old towers will be gone after a few more weekends. A shorter pair of lift towers will take their place over the river, and East Avenue will run lower under a taller rail bridge, by 2030.

Homes with a view of the Norwalk River, or a short walk from the East Norwalk platform, will look and work differently once this program is finished. If you own one and want to know how buyers are likely to weigh those changes, Jaclyn Picarillo can talk it through with you in confidence. Request a Confidential Portfolio.