ESSEX— Two New London County residents were killed early Sunday in a two-car collision on Route 9 northbound between exits 2 and 3.  Afzaal Muhammod, of 8 Orchard Street, New London, and Eunni Yoon, of 207 North Stonington Road, Mystic, were pronounced dead at the scene after a state trooper came upon the accident around 4:47 a.m. Sunday. Police believe one of the operators may have been driving in the wrong direction on the highway.

Muhammod was operating a 2009 Nisson Altima. Yoon, a woman, was driving a 2002 Chrysler. The accident remains under investigation by state police at the Troop F barracks in Westbrook.

CHESTER— State Department of Transportation officials Thursday outlined plans for the replacement of the Main Street bridge over Pattaconk Brook that include a start of construction, and five-month closing of Main Street in the downtown village beginning in January 2015.

About 40 residents turned out for the session at the Chester Meeting House where the plans for a complex construction project were presented by engineers and project managers. The bridge, constructed in 1921, carries the brook through a narrow channel that runs along or near several downtown buildings. Project manager David Stahnke described the construction area as “a very tight site.” The bridge is located just south of the intersection of Main Street and Route 148, also known as Water Street.

DOT project manager David Cutler said the 90-year-old bridge is rated poor, with deterioration to both the substructure and superstructure. He said repairing the bridge is not an option. The existing bridge is 22 feet long and about 65 feet wide. The new bridge would be 32 feet long, with two 12-foot travel lanes and wider shoulders than the existing bridge. The plans also call for improvements to the road approaches and sidewalks around the bridge.

Cutler said preparation work for the estimated $2.5 million project would begin in the fall of 2014. Main Street around the bridge would be closed during the heaviest construction, planned for a five-month period between January and May 2015.  Traffic would be detoured off Route 148 on to Straits Road and Prospect Street to Maple Street and back to Main Street.

Stahnke said a temporary bridge would be set up around the work area to maintain pedestrian access to Main Street. The project will require acquisition of rights of way from at least two downtown property owners, a process that was explained by David Hummel, property agent for the DOT’s Division of Rights of Way.

One of the issues that generated discussion at the meeting is whether there should be no night work during the most active period of construction, or whether residents could accept some night work if it would speed up completion of the project. Michael Joplin, chairman of the town’s Main Street Committee, maintained residents and downtown business owners could live with a 12 or 13 hour workday if that would help ensure the project was finished, and Main Street reopened to traffic, by May 2015.

Cutler said the state is ready to coordinate work on the bridge project with the town’s plans for a reconstruction of Main Street, the locally-funded project that is being directed by the Main Street Committee. The state also plans a replacement of the Water Street bridge over Great Brook, located just east of the Main Street bridge. Work on the Water Street bridge replacement is expected to begin later this year. The Main Street reconstruction is expected to be done around 2013-2014, between completion of the Water Street bridge replacement and the start of work on the Main Street bridge project.

ESSEX– The town is expecting a lump sum payment from the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority to cover a promised benefit that was never provided for serving as the host town for the authority’s regional transfer station.

First Selectman Norman Needleman announced at Wednesday’s meeting of the board of selectmen that he is expecting an answer from the CRRA board of directors next month on the exact amount the town would received for serving as the host town for the regional transfer station that serves nine towns in the Lower Connecticut River Valley. The regional transfer station is located on town property off Route 154, just south of the Deep River town line. The facility compacts trash from area towns that is then hauled to the CRRA Mid-Connecticut incinerator in Hartford.

The regional transfer station has been in full operation since about 1989, with Essex promised a benefit for serving as the host town for the facility. Needleman said he and members of the sanitary waste commission have been negotiating with the authority in recent weeks to secure some of the host town benefits that were promised, but never provided, to the town. The negotiations come as the authority asks area towns to renew long-term contracts for disposal of municipal solid waste that expire in November.

Needleman said Essex was promised two incentives for serving as the host town for the regional transfer station, including a host town payment of .50 for each ton of municipal solid waste that is processed at the facility. Another promised benefit that dates to the formation of the regional trash authority in the mid-1980s calls for an annual payment equal to 20 percent of the annual tax bill for the parcel that contains the regional transfer station.

Needleman said he is prepared to waive the provision for a 20 percent payment because the amount would be less than $30,000, and the town never sent the authority a tax bill for the partial payment. But Needleman said he is insisting on a payment of the host town benefit dating back to 2007. The payment, representing fifty cents on each ton of trash processed at the facility over the past five years, is expected to total more than $100,000.

Needleman said he is also seeking strict requirements that CRRA properly maintain the site of the regional facility, and has rejected offers from CRRA to buy the site from the town. While the town’s contract with CRRA for solid waste disposal expires in November, the lease for the site of the regional transfer station extends to 2015.

Needleman said he would not bring a proposed new long-term disposal contract with CRRA to the board of selectmen and town meeting for approval until the outstanding issues regarding the site and the host town payment are resolved.

Deep River and Chester in December approved new 15-year disposal contracts with CRRA. The new contracts provide for a tip fee of $59.50 per ton for trash processed at the regional transfer station and the Mid-Connecticut incinerator, less than the $70 per ton fee the towns are currently paying to CRRA.