SoNo's Fall Weekends Now Share a Calendar With the Walk Bridge

"It really is the start of a dramatic change to the city of Norwalk's skyline," Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said at the North Water Street lot in September, as Norwalk Current reported. He was talking about the two steel towers over the Norwalk River. They have stood there for more than a century, and crews started taking them down the weekend of September 13.

For anyone who spends Saturdays in South Norwalk, the timing matters. The heavy work is scheduled for weekends, and weekends are also when SoNo's new rooftop, its newest Washington Street restaurant and its biggest fall street fair do their business. Through November 1, a good SoNo weekend starts with the bridge schedule.

What is coming off the skyline

The Walk Bridge opened in 1896. It is the oldest movable bridge still in service on the Northeast Corridor, and Eucalitto said it carries about 175 trains and 125,000 passengers each day. Its two towers are 234 feet tall. The new dual-span vertical lift bridge will have lift towers about 100 feet shorter.

Before a tower can come down, crews have to remove the 31 cables strung between them, nine miles of wire in all. Eversource has already moved two live 115-kilovolt power lines that used to cross above the bridge, rerouting them underground through the streets and under the riverbed. Eucalitto said more than 250 workers are on the job and the project remains on track for completion in 2030.

The old bridge's track record explains the urgency. Eucalitto cited 12 failures in 2011 and 16 in 2013. Metro-North President Justin Vonashek said the bridge opened more than 40 times in 2025, and every opening shuts all four tracks until the span locks back into place.

Why the work lands on Saturdays and Sundays

Protecting the weekday commute is what pushes the tower work to weekends. Vonashek said weekend service would be reduced in September and October while crews take down the towers and remove the wiring, and that Monday morning commutes would not be affected. In practice, the trade-off falls on the weekend: five weekend train outages between September 12 and November 1, with two extra weekends held in reserve for bad weather.

CTDOT's service announcement names October 10–11 and October 17–18 as high-tower work weekends. During the work windows, about five electric trains run through the work zone per window, with roughly 30% fewer seats than a typical weekend. Main-line trains run between Grand Central and South Norwalk, express to Stamford and local from Stamford to South Norwalk. A shuttle train covers New Haven to Bridgeport. The release does not give a date for the fifth weekend, so check before planning a late-October trip by rail.

Here is how the next three weeks line up as of October 12, 2026:

Getting into SoNo while the trains thin out

The state is offering free weekend parking at the South Norwalk parking garage and at the Stamford Transportation Center during the outage period. The WALK Bridge project notice for the week of October 12 lists the street-level changes that matter for a short drive in:

• East Avenue, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.: traffic shifts to the west side of the road for drainage work on Gregory Boulevard and Cemetery Street. Pedestrians detour north along those two streets to the west-side sidewalk.
• East Avenue at Fort Point Street, weeknights 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.: closed, with a posted detour.
• East Norwalk station: closed through Sunday, October 18. Riders use South Norwalk or Westport. East Norwalk parking permits are honored at the 182 East Avenue commuter lot, and Norwalk Transit District runs extra Wheels Route 5 service.
• Norwalk River: partial closures east and west of the channel, which matters for anyone still taking a boat out this month.

The project warns that all of this can shift with weather or unforeseen conditions.

A rooftop built for October

At The Haven, 14 N Main Street, co-owners Christian Burns, Joe Criscuolo and Aldo Criscuolo reopened the rooftop that used to belong to Evarito's, and they rebuilt it for weather. CT Bites reported in July that the renovation added a "roof over the roof" with skylights. Burns told the outlet the plan also included windscreens around the bar, heaters and "two or three fire pits so we can extend it as long as we possibly can."

The view is the other draw. CT Bites described South Norwalk visible on all sides, with Veterans Park and Long Island Sound in the distance. Chef Jacob Raitt, formerly of Music & Industry and The Cask Republic, runs every kitchen in the building. The rooftop menu leans toward New England seafood: Rhode Island calamari, a butter-braised lobster roll and tempura cod, along with steak frites and a double wagyu burger carried over from the speakeasy downstairs. Burns told CT Bites a kids' menu was coming and called the rooftop "super family friendly," noting that DJ nights start around 10 p.m.

The café Burns mentioned last summer has since opened. The Haven's website lists The Haven Café as open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., serving coffee, matcha, smoothies, breakfast and lunch. Brunch was also discussed in July, but no start date has been announced yet.

Washington Street, a block from the closures

North Water Street's closure runs from Marshall Street to Washington Street. That puts SoNo's busiest dining block right at the edge of the work zone.

Bar TerraMare is the newest arrival on that block. It soft-opened August 1 at 122 Washington Street, according to the Connecticut Post. Chef Giuseppe Castellano, who also owns Gallo Ristorante and Lantern Bar & Gastropub in Ridgefield, built the menu around Italy's coastal regions. It includes a dedicated crudo bar and what the restaurant's release calls Connecticut's first seafood salumeria, meaning house-cured seafood served alongside traditional cured meats and cheeses. "South Norwalk has incredible energy and an appreciation for great food," Castellano said in the release.

The street's biggest fall day comes a week after the last tower weekend named in CTDOT's announcement. The Halloween Nightfair takes over Washington Street on Saturday, October 24, from 2 to 10 p.m., and admission is free. The city's lineup includes DJ and producer Wuki and the local indie-pop band Similar Kind on the main stage, the Sanderson Sisters walking the crowd, pumpkin painting sponsored by Wegmans, trick-or-treating, carnival rides and a costume contest. More than 60 local makers and vendors will be there, plus food trucks. For guests 21 and over, Blind Rhino runs a beer tent next to the stage with picnic tables and cornhole.

A short walk away, the Maritime Aquarium is showing Monster Mayhem 4D along with Shark: A 4D Experience, both listed on its calendar through October 31. Its booking page lists Monster Mayhem as a 12-minute film and shows it available through November 1. For families with a group of kids, the aquarium's sleepover schedule lists group nights on October 23, November 6 and November 21, plus a pajama party on November 14.

Upriver, a quieter changeover on Main Street

The other restaurant change this fall is happening upriver, away from the bridge work. Pasquale's Osteria at 186 Main Street closed September 29 after nearly 30 years when chef-owner Pasquale Poccia retired, Patch reported. Portofino's Trattoria plans to take over the space, with Frankie Rakaj as owner and File Rakaj as executive chef. Patch's October 9 report puts the target opening in early November, depending on permits and inspections. If it opens on schedule, that will be right around the end of the reduced-service weekends.

For the week-by-week bridge schedule, the WALK Bridge project team posts updates at walkbridgect.com and answers questions at 1-833-462-9255 or [email protected].

If you're wondering how projects like the Walk Bridge show up in a Norwalk home's value, Erin Melson can walk you through it over coffee on North Main Street. Let's Connect and request your home valuation.