"For so long, these towers have stood as part of Norwalk's skyline," Mayor Barbara Smyth said at a September press conference in the North Water Street lot, as Norwalk Current reported. "While there is certainly history in what we are saying goodbye to today, there is also immense excitement about what comes next."
SoNo Baking Company has sold bread, tarts and custom cakes on Water Street since 2005. Six weeks after that press conference, the bakery at 101 Water Street set its own goodbye. Its last day is Sunday, November 1, the same date CTDOT set as the end of the fall's reduced-service train weekends.
Neither fixture is being replaced at the same scale. The towers will give way to lift towers about 100 feet shorter. The bakery's trade is already dividing among smaller shops, one of them on Washington Street in SoNo, which opened in May.
What is coming down over the river
The two steel towers over the Norwalk River are 234 feet tall and have stood for more than a century. They belong to the WALK Bridge, which opened in 1896 and is the oldest remaining movable bridge on the Northeast Corridor. CTDOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto told reporters that removing them is "the start of a dramatic change to the city of Norwalk's skyline."
The figures from that September briefing put the change in scale:
| The old WALK Bridge | The replacement | |
|---|---|---|
| Opened or expected | 1896 | Service expected in 2030 |
| Tower height | 234 feet | About 100 feet shorter |
| Design | Swing bridge, last rehabilitated in 1990 | Dual-span vertical lift bridge |
| Daily load cited by CTDOT | About 175 trains and 125,000 passengers | Same corridor |
Before either tower could come down, crews had to remove the 31 cables strung between them, about nine miles of wire. Power and rail systems had already been moved underground beneath the riverbed. Eversource's Wayne Gagnon said the utility rerouted two live 115-kilovolt lines that used to cross above the bridge so they now run under the streets and the river.
The teardown began the weekend of September 12–13. Norwalk Current's photo report from that Sunday shows the first work underway, and it called that weekend "the first of several planned over the coming weeks." The towers coming down are only the first visible step. The project's FAQ says that once they are removed, crews will start dismantling the existing bridge itself. The new spans come in later phases.
The weekends this work took from the train schedule
The tower removal shaped weekend rail service along the whole New Haven Line this fall. In its August 13 announcement, CTDOT set five weekends of reduced Metro-North and Amtrak service between Stamford and New Haven, running September 12 through November 1:
- September 12–13 and 19–20, wire demolition. Diesel trains ran through the work zone about every 90 minutes, with roughly 55% fewer seats than a typical weekend.
- October 10–11 and 17–18, high tower work. Electric service continued during set work windows, with about five trains per window and roughly 30% fewer seats.
- The fifth weekend. The release does not list its dates. It only says the program runs through November 1.
On reduced weekends, main-line trains have been turning at South Norwalk, with local service from there to Stamford and express service from Stamford to Grand Central. Local service between Grand Central and Stamford, including Greenwich, was left alone apart from one Saturday-morning train. The state also offered free weekend parking at the South Norwalk garage and the Stamford Transportation Center.
November 1 may not be the final date. Eucalitto said two extra weekends are held in reserve in case of bad weather, and CTDOT says the schedule can change. Anyone riding this weekend or the next should check the MTA TrainTime app or MTA.info/alerts before leaving home.
East Norwalk had a separate disruption. The station closed again for the weekend of October 24–25, and full service resumed with the first trains on Monday, October 26. That station is in the middle of its own rebuild, with longer platforms, canopies and a dedicated drop-off lane.
101 Water Street's last weekend
SoNo Baking Company sits in the same few blocks as all this construction. In the Patch report on the closing, owner John Barricelli wrote that the bakery had been "part of your daily routines, family traditions, and special occasions," from "morning coffees and favorite pastries to casual lunches and celebrations." Its menu ran from artisanal breads, custom cakes and pies to all-day breakfast sandwiches, lunch salads and soups.
The Water Street shop is the last of three. The Connecticut Post reports that the bakery expanded to Westport and Darien and that both locations have since closed. Patch put the Darien shop's last day at 49 Tokeneke Road on March 25, 2026, after more than ten years. Barricelli's cookbook, The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook, has a foreword by Martha Stewart.
"Although closing this chapter is bittersweet, we do so with immense gratitude and pride in what we have built together," Barricelli wrote, as quoted by the Connecticut Post.
The timing matters for one reason. With a November 1 closing, the bakery will be gone before Thanksgiving, so households that ordered their pies and holiday cakes there will need a new source this year. The city has been here recently. Patch reported that New York Bakery at 52 Main Street closed on November 27, 2024, after nearly 70 years. That makes two long-running Norwalk bakeries closed within two years.
Where the bread counter is moving
None of the remaining shops does everything SoNo Baking did under one roof. Together they cover most of it, and most are within a few minutes' drive. Check hours directly before planning a holiday order, since some of these listings are older than this season.
- Norwalk Bagel Co., 133 Washington Street. This is the closest match in spirit, on the same SoNo stretch as Water Street. Chef Gary King and pastry chef Emily King opened it on May 13, 2026, after launching Ridgefield Bagels & Bakes. CT Bites reports that the sourdough bagels take three days from starter to shelf. Emily King trained under Pierre Hermé, and her case includes scones, macaroons, rotating cakes and pies, and a key lime pie that earned a permanent spot on the menu.
- Wave Hill Breads, 239 Westport Avenue. For crusty loaves, this is the bread-first option. CT Bites covered its café expansion in 2024, which added pastries, breakfast and deli sandwiches, coffee and Roman-style pizza.
- Michele's Pies, 666 Main Avenue. Listed by Visit Norwalk for scratch-made sweet and savory pies, plus brownies, cookies and tea breads. This is the most direct option for a Thanksgiving pie order.
- Forever Sweet Bakery, 235 Main Avenue. Listed for specialty celebration cakes, cupcakes, cookies and cake pops.
- La Baguette Shop, 330 Westport Avenue. A family-owned Haitian and French bakery listed for breads and pastries made fresh daily, patties and homemade drinks.
- Upper Crust Bakery & Café, 19 First Street, East Norwalk. A breakfast-and-lunch spot listed for bagels, muffins and specialty sandwiches.
Washington Street is also adding places for a SoNo evening that once might have ended with a coffee on Water Street. Bar Terra Mare at 122 Washington Street, which serves seasonal coastal Italian seafood, appeared in Discover Norwalk's October 14 roundup of recently opened SoNo restaurants.
The blocks around the North Water Street lot
The bridge work will stay a weekday fact for several years. The WALK Bridge construction update for the week of October 19 listed work at the bridge 24 hours a day, Monday through Saturday. It also listed partial closures on the Norwalk River east and west of the channel, weekday closures of Osborne Avenue at the railroad bridge, and an overnight closure of East Avenue at Fort Point Street with posted detours. North Water Street between Marshall and Washington Streets, beside the lot where officials held the tower announcement, closed during the day for a stretch in mid-October. The project's interactive activities map shows current closures, and the team can be reached at 1-833-462-9255.
The project FAQ says rail service will generally continue through the rest of construction. The exceptions are two future weekend outages to float the new bridge spans into place. When those weekends come, the towers they bring to the SoNo skyline will be roughly 100 feet shorter than the pair coming down this fall.
For South Norwalk homeowners weighing how the WALK Bridge timeline, the 2030 completion date and the shifting Water Street storefronts fit their own plans, The Sarsen Team follows these projects block by block and can walk you through what each milestone means for your property. Request a confidential consultation.
