Since October 10, crews have been cutting the two 234-foot utility towers on the 1896 WALK Bridge into sections and lowering them to the ground, Westfair reported. The WALK Bridge Project's own post, quoted in that story, called the towers "the most notable feature associated with the 1896 span." For more than a century, anyone crossing the Norwalk River or walking out of the Maritime Aquarium could see them.
The towers are what people see. Most of the road closures, however, are east of the river. The project's weekly bulletin for the week of October 19 lists one closure in central SoNo, on North Water Street between Marshall and Washington streets, and it ran only through Monday, October 19. Every other traffic restriction on that bulletin is on East Avenue, Osborne Avenue and Fort Point Street in East Norwalk, and those run on weekday schedules. That pattern is worth understanding, because the towers are only one phase of a program that runs to the end of the decade.
A Skyline Change Built Around Weekend Outages
Taking the towers down means cutting the power and rail traffic running under them, so the work has been scheduled around train outages. The Connecticut Department of Transportation, Metro-North and Amtrak announced on August 13 that there would be five weekends of reduced service over eight weeks, from September 12 through November 1. Local service between Grand Central and Stamford stayed largely intact. Each affected weekend split the line in Connecticut instead. A shuttle ran between New Haven and Bridgeport, main-line trains turned at South Norwalk, and trains between Grand Central and New Haven ran less often.
| Weekend | Work at the bridge | Service through the work zone |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 12-13 and Sept. 19-20 | Demolition of the old catenary wire | Diesel trains about every 90 minutes, about 55% fewer seats than a typical weekend |
| Oct. 10-11 and Oct. 17-18 | High tower removal | About five electric trains per work window, about 30% fewer seats |
| Fifth weekend | Not dated in CTDOT's releases | Reduced schedules end Nov. 1 |
Norwalk sits right at the split, so the station that riders were pointed to was its own. During the wire weekends, CTDOT told New York-bound riders to use the high-capacity garages at Stamford and South Norwalk and take the more frequent trains from there. A September 9 reminder added free parking at the Stamford Transportation Center and paid parking at the South Norwalk Parking Garage.
The fifth weekend is the one to check this week. CTDOT's releases say the reductions run through November 1 but don't list the fifth weekend's dates. Trains magazine worked out that it is probably October 31 through November 1. Before any trip this Saturday or Sunday, check the MTA TrainTime app or MTA.info/alerts, which is where CTDOT sends riders for current schedules.
What Officials Said the Towers Meant
When the outages were announced in September, local officials said plainly that the towers were part of the city's identity. At the press conference, NancyOnNorwalk reported, CTDOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto called it "the start of a dramatic change to the city of Norwalk's skyline." According to the same NancyOnNorwalk story, Mayor Barbara Smyth spoke to the same point:
"For so long, these towers have stood as part of Norwalk's skyline. While there is certainly history in what we are saying goodbye to today, there is also immense excitement about what comes next."
The bridge earned that standing through use as well as height. Before 2020 it carried about 125,000 passengers and 175 trains a day for Amtrak, Metro-North and the freight carrier Providence & Worcester, according to project figures cited by Westfair. Westfair's photo of the first cuts came from Marc Glucksman of River Rail Service.
SoNo Kept Its Weekend Going
The weekend tower removal started, SoNo's own calendar went ahead as planned. Norwalk Current's weekend lineup for October 9 listed a concert at District Music Hall, 108 Water Street, on October 10. It also listed an afternoon live music set with lunch at Washington Prime, 141 Washington Street, from noon to 3 p.m. on October 11. Both are a short walk from the river, and the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk sits right beside the bridge.
Washington Street businesses had been living next to the job for a while before that. In a December 2025 CT Insider story, Eco Evolution barista Zoey Laughner described construction noise and trucks near the site. Linda Vinci, owner of Braach's Flowers, said the contractors kept her shop informed and her business hadn't changed. Those accounts are almost a year old, from before the tower phase began. They are still the most recent first-hand reports from that block.
East Avenue Carries the Day-to-Day Load
On the other side of the river, the weekday picture looks different. Here is what the WALK Bridge bulletin for the week of October 19 posted for East Norwalk:
- East Avenue: weekdays 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., traffic shifted to the west side of the road while drainage work runs on Gregory Boulevard and Cemetery Street. Pedestrians follow a posted detour north along those two streets to the west-side sidewalk.
- East Avenue at Fort Point Street: closed weekdays 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., detour as posted.
- Osborne Avenue: closed at the railroad bridge weekdays 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., detour as posted.
- At the bridge itself: day and overnight work, 24 hours, Monday through Saturday.
The bulletin is updated weekly at walkbridgect.com. Its own fine print says schedules can change with weather and site conditions, so check the posting for the week you're driving rather than relying on this one.
East Norwalk also lost its train station for three weeks. From September 26 through October 18, no trains stopped there in either direction. Riders were sent to South Norwalk or Westport, East Norwalk parking permits were honored at the 182 East Avenue commuter lot, and Norwalk Transit ran extra Wheels Route 5 buses. That closure has ended, and trains are stopping at East Norwalk again.
Why East Avenue Stays Busy After the Towers Are Gone
The towers are the first visible step, and much of the remaining work is still ahead. The project FAQ lays out the order:
- High towers removed. Cutting started October 10, and the reduced train weekends run through November 1.
- Existing bridge dismantled. Under the FAQ, this follows the tower removal. The program hasn't published a start date.
- New lift bridge and approach spans built. These come in later phases, and the FAQ expects the new bridge to enter service in 2030.
Some of the new bridge is already in the ground. In May 2026, CT Insider reported that crews had built eight large drilled-shaft foundations, deep launching and receiving pits on both riverbanks, and two 60-inch utility bores. Project representatives said foundation work was nearly complete. That report put the overall finish between late fall 2030 and spring 2031, a little later than the FAQ's 2030 in-service date. The difference is between trains running on the new span and the whole job being finished.
The program has also been running smaller related projects for years. North of the main bridge, the Danbury Branch Dockyard project finished the Ann Street rail bridge superstructure in August 2019 and the Dockyard work itself in November 2023. Its added tracks let trains be stored and turned during the main bridge replacement. Construction has been going on around the river and East Norwalk for most of a decade, and the towers coming down is the moment it became visible to anyone looking at the skyline.
For the rest of the year, East Norwalk will feel it on weekdays and riders on weekends, while SoNo's restaurants and the Aquarium keep working beside the bridge. Weekly road updates, maps and the project team's contact details, 1-833-462-9255 or [email protected], are posted at walkbridgect.com.
If you're weighing how several more years of bridge work near SoNo and East Norwalk fit into a sale or purchase in Norwalk, Barbara Sweeney Homes is happy to go through the timeline with you street by street. Work with Barbara and schedule a free consultation.
