By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
NEWPORT, N.H. — The Newport Selectmen agreed that as a consensus of the board they will be passing on state funding to replace the long-closed Greenwood Road Bridge, with officials citing the cost, large scope of work and priority to repair other roadways as a reason to move on.
“At this time, I don’t think the town can justify putting money toward the bridge,” Town Manager Kyle Harris said. “We have so much other infrastructure that is failing in town that needs to be replaced that is absolute necessity. This bridge hasn’t been here for 15 years. We managed without it for 15 years so if we have to wait another 10 years before we repair it, I think that I the best direction to go.”
Harris said at Monday’s meeting that the state is looking for a determination by May 1, and if the town does not go with this round of funding, the next round won’t be until 2036. The town also reached out to the Daniels Construction of Ascutney, Vermont, who rehabilitated the bridge on Chandler’s Mill two years ago. The company looked at the bridge in 2009 and estimated it would be $250,000 to fix this bridge.
Selectman Rachel Dilger pointed out that this was still less than the state’s cost of between $1.8 and $1.9 million. The town would have been on the hook for 20% of this cost, Harris explained.
“Greenwood Road would need to be repaved if we were to replace the bridge because it is in really rough shape,” Harris said. “That would also create another issue of a drag strip right through that area because you now have freshly paved road, so that is another concern for out there.”
While he said the company didn’t come look at the road, and that the estimate is from 16 years ago, Dilger said that even with a 30% escalation on it, it is still cheaper than paying the 20% to the state.
Selectman Jeff Kessler clarified if Daniels Construction were to do the job, the cost would fall fully on the town, because once you get the state involved the cost will be more like a $2 million project. It would also leave the timeline up to the town.
“If we do it with Daniels, we would be doing it all on our own dime and not getting on the state schedule,” Kessler. “So basically, the scheduling and timing is up to us.”
Selectman Herb Tellor recalled previous conversations about the bridge and there was a concern about undercutting the abutments. Harris confirmed this, saying it would be about $50,000 and included in the estimated cost.
“Just looking at the abutments, they’re in rough shape,” Harris said. “It is a much different bridge than the Chandler’s Mill Bridge, which is a very shallow area. This has got some height and the river does a 90 degree turn right there. So, it is a more substantial project, for sure.”
The Selectmen then turned to the public for comments and Kurt Minich said he was in favor of putting off construction and not pushing other projects down the road.
Selectman Jeff North excused himself from the discussion as board member, but did speak as an abutter. He remembers when the bridge closed, and he said at that time it was a “superhighway” where people would be going way over the speed limit.
“With it still unpaved it was like going over the speed limit plus frost heaves,” North said. “The road is in absolutely abysmal shape. It’s as close to a dirt road and is pretty much all potholes patched together with asphalt.”
North said as an abutter next to the bridge, they did not find it to be a loss for them.
“As an abutter there, it doesn’t bother me in any way whatsoever,” North said. “I would have zero issue with that road never being repaired, nor the bridge never being replaced.”
Another resident, Donna Menard, asked if there is a way to come back to it in several years instead of putting it off another 10 to 12 years.
“It’s my road,” she said. “At the time it closed, I was taking care of my father down here, a 95-year-old man. Heart problems. That was a little quicker way to get down there, and excuse me for traveling fast.”
Dilger said the budget and warrant articles this year are pretty tight, but maybe in ensuing years they could look into making it a warrant article. She suggested speed bumps for speeding concerns, but the board said this wouldn’t work due to plows, but she said they could look into ways to alleviate some of the concerns.
Chair Jim Burroughs noted that, as Harris said earlier, it is a larger scale project than just repairing the bridge. The road has structural issues, he said, and there would be a fair amount of planning to scale the project out.
“To go off and away from the state at two plus million dollars when this bridge actually probably does happen, to a bridge we do at a third of the cost, is a much smarter way to go,” he said. “Financially it makes more sense for us to go do it ourselves than it does to go with the state on their timeline under their conditions.”
Tellor said when the town looks at this down the road, a more up to date estimate should be done. Burroughs said if this is the direction the town wants to go, there should be a package project including paving. Harris said this is not even one of the 10 worst roads in town, and there are other higher priority roads to tend to first.
The board did not need to take a formal vote but instead got a consensus to inform the state they will not be moving ahead.
“It would be the board’s direction to explore adding this to our CIP project list as a complete package, the bridge and the road, and see where that lands,” Burroughs said. “It is unfortunate we are not in the financial position to be able to do it faster or more readily, but that’s just the financial situation we are in as a community. I think it is good budgeting on our part to plan this budget with a little more thought process.”
