New details regarding a proposed bridge between Dresden and Richmond emerged at a public hearing for the project in Dresden Dec. 7. Officials from the Maine Department of Transportation hosted the well-attended event.
While plans for the bridge have not been finalized, the DOT is considering a high level fixed bridge slightly upstream of the current one. The DOT lists replacement of the Richmond-Dresden Bridge, which carries traffic over Route 197, as one of its top infrastructure priorities.
According to Assistant Program Manager Wayne Frankhauser, building a new moveable bridge would be cost prohibitive. It is estimated that a moveable bridge would cost some $120,000 more per year to operate and maintain.
The exact height of the new bridge is currently undetermined pending a meeting with the U.S. Coast Guard. Assuming the new bridge is fixed, it would have to be high enough to allow for Coast Guard ships to pass through.
The Coast Guard sometimes sends icebreaker ships that pass through the Richmond-Dresden Bridge. The largest, the USCGC Thunder Bay, requires a clearance of 75 feet.
Should the new Richmond-Dresden Bridge be built to these specifications, it would be around the size of the Bath Bridge that links the towns of Bath and Woolwich.
Addressing concerns from the public, DOT Project Manager Nate Benoit said the state is in negotiations with the Coast Guard to make the bridge as small as possible.
The new bridge will be expanded to be 32 feet wide with eleven-foot travel lanes and five-foot shoulders. The current bridge is 20 feet wide with 10-foot lanes and no shoulders.
Adding shoulders will allow pedestrians and bikes to cross in relative safety. Cars that suffer breakdowns can also use the shoulders without blocking traffic on the bridge.
“It’s a big improvement over what’s there now,” Project Designer Garrett Gustafson said.
Gustafson said the new bridge would be built to last 75-100 years. The old bridge will be removed once construction is complete.
Responding to concerns from some members of the public over the potential increase in traffic from the new bridge, Benoit said the DOT was concerned with building a bridge, not managing traffic.
“Our goal is to create a new, safe bridge,” he said.
Frankhauser assured those concerned, however, that only local people would use the bridge, and that an explosion in traffic levels was not likely.
DOT assurances did not satisfy some in the audience, who saw a larger bridge as an invitation for more truck traffic.
“This is going to change the entire region,” one man said.
The new bridge will be designed to handle all legal weight loads.
Five days after the Dresden meeting, on Dec. 12, Maine U.S. Senator Susan Collins, the senior Republican on the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation will award $10.8 million in grant funding to help replace the bridge.
This competitive grant funding is provided through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, program.
“I was truly alarmed to see firsthand the deteriorated condition of the Richmond-Dresden Bridge when I recently visited,” said Senator Collins who toured the bridge with State DOT Commissioner Dave Bernhardt and local officials Dec. 2.
“It is an understatement to say that the time has come to replace and modernize this 80-year old bridge which is a critically important transportation link in this area,” Collins said. “When I spoke to (USDOT) Secretary (Ray) LaHood and urged his department to give full consideration to the application, I stressed that this will be a true partnership at the local, state, and the federal levels.”
The grant will cover roughly half of the bridge’s estimated $20- $25 million price tag, with the remainder being contributed by the state. According to Frankhauser, Maine has already budgeted its contribution to the bridge project in the 2012-2013 budget.
The DOT estimates construction will begin in 2013 and last until 2015. The old Richmond-Dresden Bridge will remain open during that time.
DOT officials at the meeting said they believe the project’s preliminary engineering and design will be completed by February 2012. Another public hearing will be held to review the design in March.
