The Dept. of Transportation has pushed back the timetable for replacing of the South Bristol swing bridge by a year.
“This project has recently met some challenges that have taken some time to work through for the Department,” DOT project manager Steve Bodge wrote in a Jan. 30 letter to the South Bristol Board of Selectmen.
“Due to the amount of work to be completed, the advertise date will be moved back approximately one year from June 2012 to spring/summer of 2013,” Bodge wrote.
The advertise date refers to the date the department will advertise a request for proposals from potential contractors.
The challenges, according to the letter and a previous, Jan. 11 letter, include “design issues” surrounding the Dianne Haas property, also known as The Bridge House.
Another DOT official, however, said The Bridge House isn’t the primary factor standing in the way of the project.
Bureau of Property Management Director Joyce Taylor said the department needs to “take a step back” and “re-evaluate” several aspects of the project, including rising cost estimates, property impacts and the construction process.
During the department’s re-evaluation, Taylor wants to research the possibility of starting construction off-site in order to replace the bridge in a shorter period of time, thus lessening the negative impacts of construction on the community.
She also indicated that the department wants to look at ways to build the bridge “without taking a house,” an apparent reference to the Haas property.
The department’s plan to buy the property and remove The Bridge House sparked indignation among some South Bristol residents, including Haas. Bodge, after acknowledging ongoing negotiations with Haas in November, later backtracked and said “all options” weren’t “off the table” with regard to the turn-of-the century building.
A Dec. 22 letter from the selectmen to Bodge expressing concerns about the issue and inviting Bodge to a meeting “really helped precipitate the conversation we had internally,” Taylor said.
The department hopes to meet with the selectmen sometime in February to “share what information we have and explain what we’ve been doing,” Taylor said.
The department’s bridge maintenance division is “prepared to maintain the existing bridge” in the meantime, Bodge wrote in his Jan. 30 letter to the selectmen.
The swing bridge, which spans The Gut and connects Rutherford Island to the mainland, is prone to mechanical failure. The bridge has stuck in the open position numerous times in recent years, stranding motorists on Rutherford Island.
