Railway bolt afflicts town resident

New Milford resident Kathleen Nugent has an unwanted souvenir -- a 5-inch bolt from the Housatonic Railroad crossing on Bridge Street.

She unceremoniously received the bolt Jan. 29 while trying to avoid the growing gap between the railroad tracks at the crossing.

The bolt punctured her truck's tire, leaving three inches of bolt imbedded in and two inches protruding out of the tire.

"I was trying to avoid the big hole, swerving to the right and blam, the bolt went into my tire," Mrs. Nugent said last week. "Fortunately, J & J Auto was open."

The cost of replacing the tire? Some $200.

Housatonic Railroad legal counsel Matthew Whitney told Mrs. Nugent to put in a claim.

The Bridge Street crossing has been a problem in town for several years.

The Department of Transportation and Housatonic Railroad crews have patched, but each storm, "the patch blows out," said Matt Boardman, a Housatonic Railroad project engineer.

"We've put in for some money to come through from the state with the DOT's `Fix It First' program but have heard nothing about a disbursement yet," Mr. Boardman said. "When the state money comes through, a complete repair job will be done."

To repair the Bridge Street crossing would require "taking it apart and building it up again from the tracks' foundation," he explained. "We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair it. The biggest problem will be rerouting traffic."

State DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said the state is trying to develop a funding program to help railroad companies across the state repair their infrastructure, including railroad crossings in disrepair.

"But this is us being good neighbors in assisting the rail companies," Mr. Nursick said. "This is Housatonic's infrastructure and repairs to it is their responsibility not the state's."