The Cannon Rd. and Honey Hill Rd. bridges have been closed for four months, and the detours around them have caused less trouble than many people expected in June. That record comes from summer, when traffic is lighter and schools are out. Wilton police are now taking a second round of traffic counts on Pimpewaug Rd. while school is in session. Those counts could reopen the request for a traffic light at Pimpewaug Rd. and Route 7, which the Connecticut Department of Transportation has turned down twice. Both bridges are set to stay closed until Nov. 30, 2027, about 14 months from now, so the result will shape a lot of drives through north and central Wilton.
Two old bridges, a few hundred feet from Route 7
The two spans are close twins. Each carries a local road over the Norwalk River just east of Route 7, and each sits beside a Metro-North grade crossing. That is why closing them hits so many trips at once.
| Cannon Rd. Bridge No. 04981 | Honey Hill Rd. Bridge No. 04976 | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | About ¼ mile east of U.S. 7, 75 feet west of Pimpewaug Rd. | About 150 feet east of U.S. 7 |
| Rail crossing | About 150 feet west of the bridge | 65 feet east of the bridge |
| Built | 1956 | 1957 |
| Condition issues cited by CTDOT | Roadway too narrow by current standards, rails below safety standards, scour-critical | Weight-restricted, scour-critical, rails below safety standards |
| Replacement plan | Steel-beam bridge with a flood-flow culvert, 24-foot roadway, 5½-foot sidewalk on the north side | 66-foot steel-beam bridge, keeping the 22-foot curb-to-curb width |
| Estimated construction cost | $6.72 million | $4.76 million |
On both projects, CTDOT budgets 80% federal money and 20% state money. When the town announced the work in 2022, it said the Federal Local Bridge Program would cover at least 80% of every phase and state funds would cover the rest. That release did not list any local share.
"Scour-critical" means a structure is vulnerable to the river wearing away the ground around its foundations. That is the main reason this work could not wait. It also explains why the new Cannon design adds a culvert to carry flood flow. The existing Cannon bridge has a 5-foot sidewalk on its north side, and the replacement widens it to 5½ feet.
Why both closed at the same time
In June, many people asked why Wilton had to lose both crossings at once. CTDOT told GOOD Morning Wilton that building the two bridges together saves "upwards of a million dollars," because the jobs share contractors and other efficiencies. Measured against about $11.5 million in combined construction estimates, that is a meaningful saving. The cost is that drivers lose both nearby river crossings for the length of the project.
Cannon Rd. closed between the Metro-North tracks and Pimpewaug Rd. on Wednesday, June 3, 2026. The town's notice said the closure would last about 18 months. Interim Director of Public Works Jeff Pardo told the Board of Selectmen on Aug. 17 that the work was on schedule with no major problems. He confirmed again on Sept. 16, and First Selectman Toni Boucher on Sept. 20, that both projects are on track to finish by Nov. 30, 2027.
Where the official detours send you
The town's detour map shows two separate routes.
- Cannon Rd. detour: Cannon Road, Hurlbutt Street, Danbury Road/Route 7, and Sharp Hill Road/Route 106.
- Honey Hill Rd. detour: Honey Hill Road, Danbury Road/Route 7, Wampum Hill Road, and Seeley Road.
The map labels roads. It does not give turn-by-turn directions, so the signs posted on the ground are the guide to follow.
The Cannon detour is the one that matters for the traffic-light debate. It sends drivers to the signalized intersection of Route 7 and Sharp Hill Rd., which is Route 106. GOOD Morning Wilton puts it nearly a mile south of the Pimpewaug Rd. intersection with Route 7. Pimpewaug has no light, and many people already considered that intersection risky before the bridges closed. That made it the obvious worry once Cannon traffic needed a new way onto Route 7.
So far, most drivers seem to be taking the longer route. "It does appear many people are using alternate routes and not Pimpewaug, so hopefully they're using the detour [to the signaled intersection at Sharp Hill Rd.] that was proposed," Wilton Police Chief Tom Conlan told GOOD Morning Wilton in late September.
Why the summer didn't settle anything
CTDOT based its refusals in part on an estimate called "eight-hour vehicular volume," a projection of traffic through the intersection that included expected detour traffic. By the state's calculation, that volume did not justify a signal.
Wilton's counter-argument depends on real counts. Police began a traffic study in June and are now running a second round, including counts on Pimpewaug Rd., to compare with the state's projection. Conlan was careful about what the first three months show. Summer brings lighter traffic, and nearby schools were closed. "We have to keep monitoring it," he said.
Conlan described two things that would lead the town to raise the light with the state again:
- School-year counts on Pimpewaug Rd. that come in well above CTDOT's projection. "If [the difference] was significant, we would reach back out to the state," he said.
- More crashes at the Pimpewaug and Danbury Rd. intersection. Since the closures began, he has reported one, a rear-end collision with no injuries.
Complaints have also dropped. Conlan said he could recall only one recent complaint, about speeding on Skunk Ln. Boucher said she is hearing less about traffic than she did when the detours started. State Rep. Savet Constantine sees it differently. She thinks some residents may simply be "pushing through." After driving the detour herself, she said it adds a lot of time to each leg of a trip, and that the extra time builds up over the many trips a household makes each day. "When you have kids, when you have work, when you're going to the gym, when you're going [for] groceries… it's multiple times," she said.
Constantine and Boucher raised the closures and the light request with Gov. Ned Lamont at the Cannon Grange Agricultural Fair on Aug. 26. The Grange is at 25 Cannon Rd., a few steps from the closed bridge. Lamont told Constantine to keep CTDOT informed. She later spoke with members of the DOT commissioner's team at an event in New Canaan on Sept. 22 and followed up by email with constituent concerns. She has said any new push for a signal must come from the town and the police chief, and that her role is to be "a conduit."
The side streets taking the extra traffic
Wherever drivers choose not to wait at Pimpewaug, the traffic moves onto other streets. Conlan said police have increased traffic enforcement on Skunk Ln., Hurlbutt St. and other nearby roads carrying displaced traffic, as well as on Danbury and Pimpewaug Rds., and that the enforcement will continue. Hurlbutt St. is part of the official Cannon detour. Skunk Ln. is not. It appears in the reporting because of speeding concerns and the added enforcement.
In June, emergency response was one of the biggest concerns. The police chief said then that police, fire, EMS and dispatch watch the closures, adjust response routes and use alternatives when needed. School-bus routing came up during planning, but none of the reporting so far describes a specific bus arrangement. No temporary walking or cycling crossing has been published either, so the Cannon sidewalk stays out of use until the new bridge opens.
Everything west of the closure is open
Cannon Rd. is closed only between the railroad tracks and Pimpewaug Rd. The town's notice promises continued access to Cannondale Train Station and to businesses and homes near the work area for the whole project. For a Saturday errand, that means Cannondale Village at 24 Cannon Rd. is still reachable from Route 7. Schmendrick's Bookshop opened there on July 29, after the closure began, in Unit 36 next to Baldanza at the Schoolhouse. It is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. In June, officials also expected at least one of the two driveway entrances to the Cannon Grange to stay open.
Bridge construction does not change where these places are. It changes the drive for anyone coming from east of the river, who now takes the Hurlbutt St. and Route 7 loop to the Sharp Hill Rd. signal instead of crossing the bridge.
What happens next
The next real update will come from the school-year counts. If they roughly match CTDOT's projection, the current setup probably lasts until the bridges reopen. If they come in well above it, Wilton has the data to ask the state again. Until then, Conlan's advice for the rest of the project is to "use the posted detour, allow some extra time for travel, and just remain patient." The Wilton Department of Public Works posts current conditions, and GOOD Morning Wilton has covered each step of the light request so far.
Construction projects like this one change daily routines on certain streets for a while. If you own a home near Cannon Rd., Honey Hill Rd. or the detour route and want to know how the closures might affect buyer interest or timing before November 2027, Taylor Tait can walk you through it. Request a complimentary home valuation to get a clear, current picture of your home's position.
