Add another month to the nearly three decades it has taken to replace the demolished Congress Street bridge linking downtown and the East Side. Bids for the estimated $24 million infrastructure project were initially due this past Tuesday. But Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration has extended the deadline to June 20. City Engineer Jon Urquidi provided a statement saying the decision was made because interested contractors needed more time to obtain accurate prices from material suppliers, subcontractors and vendors. The rusty hulk was demolished in 2010 under then-Mayor Bill Finch, who called it “the city’s most visible reminder of infrastructure neglect.” City officials over the years pivoted away from building another drawbridge, estimated in 2010 to cost $60 million, to the cheaper but more convoluted process of seeking the necessary federal and state approvals to instead install the $24 million fixed span. That effort has taken so long that the replacement of the Congress Street bridge has become a recurring campaign headache for some of those involved.
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/congress-street-bridge-bridgeport-delay-bids-18120696.php