Chelsea
For drivers traveling north on Route 110, the bridge provides safe passage into town, carrying roughly 1,600 vehicles a day over the river near the intersection of Creamery Road, according to state estimates from 2015.
But the bridge, erected in 1936, and another just north of downtown, won’t be there much longer. Both are slated to be replaced this summer, a proposal that’s just fine with Newman.
“It’s so deteriorated,” she said while recounting years of repairs to the structure, known as Bridge 9 to the Vermont Agency of Transportation. “We welcome a change. They need to fix it.”
However, fixing the bridge and its northern counterpart, Bridge 11, will come at a cost: round-the-clock construction and roughly two weeks of road closures for each project. Drivers also will face detours, some as long as 64 miles.
While those challenges likely will inconvenience some people, they’re necessary to replace the bridges in a quick manner utilizing quality construction, said Kristin Higgins, an engineer at VTrans’ Accelerated Bridge Program.
Over the years, she said, the two bridges have become derelict and have needed major maintenance efforts to continue functioning. That’s why the state is calling for construction this summer, Higgins said.
Crews will close Bridge 11, near the Chelsea Health Center, on June 18 and work almost nonstop to replace its deck and beams with a pre-cast structure, according to state documents. The bridge also will get a new sidewalk and will be widened from 32 feet to more than 35 feet.
Once that bridge is opened on June 30, crews will begin preparing to tackle Bridge 9, near the Chelsea Animal Hospital. They’ll close that bridge on July 10 to perform deck and beam replacements and open it on July 24.
Bridge 9 also will get a sidewalk during construction and be widened from 28 feet to more than 35 feet, Higgins said.
CPM Constructors of Freeport, Maine, has been contracted to do the work, which is expected to cost a total of $4.2 million. Higgins said 80 percent of those funds will come from federal sources, while the remaining 20 percent will come from Vermont.
During construction, cars will be detoured locally, while trucks and tractor trailers will have to go much farther to avoid the construction.
The town of Chelsea is recommending that local motorists driving south take Edwards Road from Route 110 in the northern end of town before turning onto Williamstown Road. Drivers will hop on Brook Road to Randolph Road, which will deposit them on Route 110 in the southern end of town.
During construction on Bridge 9, cars can take Route 113 in downtown to Densmore Road before turning onto Town Farm Road and Jenkins Brook Road, which will take them back to Route 110.
But trucks carrying more than local weight limits will have to go much farther on state roads.
VTrans is recommending that truckers driving from the south who need to get to the north part of town in Chelsea get off Interstate 89 at Exit 6 in Berlin then drive on Route 63 through Barre onto US 302.
Trucks would then take Route 14 in East Barre to get onto Route 110, driving south through Orange and Washington before entering northern Chelsea.
From the detour signs at Routes 110 and 14 in South Royalton to Chelsea, the detour totals 50 miles, Higgins said.
If a truck started in Chelsea, just north of the bridge work, and needed to reach part of Chelsea just south of the bridges, the detour could total about 64 miles from end to end.
Newman said she doesn’t expect she’ll mind the local detour or construction outside her home.
“To me, I think it’s a fair trade for a good, safe, little wider bridge, one that doesn’t make your house bounce up and down,” she said.
However, the detour is expected to cause some trouble for area first responders and businesses, as well as for people needing to get to the Vermont courthouse in Chelsea, the county seat for Orange County.
Linda Kuban, an administrator and EMT at First Branch Ambulance, said construction on the northern bridge will likely cause the most trouble.
The nonprofit ambulance service covers the towns of Chelsea, Tunbridge and South Washington from a station in downtown Chelsea, between the two bridges.
To prevent ambulances from taking the local detours, Kuban said First Branch will rent space in a barn north of the bridges and intends to station an additional crew in a camper nearby.
Crews also will work additional hours during construction. Paid EMTs will work 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. rather than 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., she said.
“It’s an inconvenience but we all have them,” Preston said.
Some local businesses also expressed concern about employees and shipments getting to work during construction.
Will Gilman, the owner of Will’s Store, said he has three employees who will have to detour to get to work. There’s also a few suppliers he expects will be negatively affected by the closures.
“It’ll be a disruption for a few weeks but we’ve been waiting for a fix for quite a number of years now,” he said. “A little disruption’s not a big problem.”
Gilman said both bridges have caused trouble for years, requiring frequent repairs from state crews. The southern bridge also is too narrow for both trucks and pedestrians to comfortably pass.
“It’ll be nice to have a brand new wider bridge that you don’t have to worry about meeting somebody on and better sidewalks,” he said.
Wayland Childs, who owns AJ’s Auto Repair, crosses the north bridge daily on his commute to work. Many of his employees and suppliers do the same.
“It will be kind of hard for a few weeks but if that’s what we’ve got to give up to have new bridges, that’s what you’ve got to do,” he said.
People can find information about the local detour at the Vermont Judiciary’s website at http://bit.ly/2rwhzNK
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.