A community working together to confront issues and solve problems is a beautiful thing.

Happily, we can say this is true about the Bristol community, where citizens and public officials work together as needed.

Recently, our town was confronted with the prospect of the closure of Hope Street for the repair of the Silver Creek Bridge. The state DOT had been dictating to us, the necessity of shutting down the roadway completely and targeted the high season of this coming summer to do this.

This project would have serious consequences on the local economy and clear inconvenience of delays with a clogged Metacom Avenue.

Our town officials, led by Steve Contente, our administrator, and Nathan Calouro, Bristol Town Council chairman, met with DOT and successfully modified the plan to allow one lane open to keep traffic flowing, as well as the bike path uninterrupted. Other officials played a role, with Seth Magaziner, our state treasurer, and our Rep. Susan Donovan, in convincing DOT to revise the plan.

We citizens were well represented by Halsey Herreshoff, former councilman, and Herb Brown, owner of Bristol Bagelworks, joining in the ongoing discussions, and ultimately producing the beneficial result of keeping the roadway partially open. This will work for all of us, to get the repair work down and keep the traffic flowing.

Special thanks go to all these citizens, for persistently addressing the needs of our town and working together to solve this issue. This is Bristol with the beauty and benefits of working together to solve a specific problem. We are grateful to have government officials who listen and take the lead in making our community work.

Thanks, Steve, Nathan, Seth, Susan, Halsey and Herb for being there for all of us.

Stephan Brigidi

4 Franklin St., Bristol

Jen & Chip Cavallaro

10 Franklin St., Bristol