QUECHEE — Chain-link is out and sleek, steel balusters are in.
The final design for a permanent barrier to improve safety at the Quechee Gorge Bridge has been selected, and project officials beginning in 2021 will replace the temporary chain-link fence with a design that will afford visitors a better view of the Ottauquechee River down below. The new barrier is being worked into a larger bridge rehabilitation project, and is one of many safety measures proposed for the site.
Meanwhile, Hartford Police Deputy Chief Brad Vail said on Friday that the temporary fence, which officials erected in October 2018 in part because of suicides at the Gorge, has already saved lives on at least two occasions. Officers intercepted men as they climbed the fence and pulled them to safety.
“We do believe the fence is helping,” Vail said in an email. “(It) may act as a deterrent altogether to some individuals, and for those that are actively engaged in attempting to do so, the fence acts as an obstacle providing time for passersby to report and officers to arrive in order to prevent the tragedy.”
The permanent barrier will be 9 feet tall and consist of vertical steel balusters positioned eight inches apart, which should provide for a “fairly straight down” and clear view of the state’s popular natural tourist attraction on Route 4, Vermont Agency of Transportation project manager JB McCarthy said on Friday. The barrier, which is curved at the top to help prevent people from climbing over it, will be dark green, and have decorative arches on its bottom half.
Other safety improvements will include installing a new 24-inch-tall rail to separate pedestrians from passing vehicles. Wider sidewalks and crosswalk upgrades also are planned.
“This bridge and site is a very visible and important asset to the state of Vermont,” McCarthy said. “Given that this bridge provides access to a spectacular view of the Quechee Gorge, it is necessary that this structure provide not only serviceability for pedestrians but also safety for all users.”
Area residents and business leaders weighed in on the final design at a meeting on Thursday night at Hartford Town Hall. Officials said their input, as well as other input collected over several months and hundreds of responses to a survey about the design, informed the final design.
Some members of the community, including at least one nearby business owner, expressed reservations about a barrier during preliminary discussions in summer 2018, suggesting it would impede views at the Gorge and hamper tourism. But several people in November said the fence maintained the views and provided an added sense of safety and security.
The gorge has been the site of 14 suicides between 2007 and July 2018, but there hasn’t been a death since the temporary fence was installed. However, two close calls may have ended differently if it weren’t for the fence, law enforcement officials said on Friday.
In December 2018, a man attempted to scale the fence and an off-duty Woodstock police officer who was traveling home saw him and pulled him down to safety. In May, Hartford police responded to a man climbing the fence; two Hartford officers and a Vermont State Police trooper, who was on scene already, pulled the person down, Vail said.
Hartford officer Aleya Leombruno and Sgt. Dan Solomita described the latter situation as being seconds away from tragedy. The man had scaled the fence, and had one leg dangling over the gorge and the other positioned over the sidewalk. He was agitated and threatening to jump, they said.
When he swung his other leg over the top of the fence toward the gorge, Leombruno jumped up and grabbed him. The officers pulled him down and emergency personnel transported him to an area hospital for medical attention.
Leombruno and Solomita both see a barrier wall — and one that is even harder to climb than the current temporary fence — as a necessary and “positive” improvement at the site.
Hartford Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director P.J. Skehan said the chamber has received minimal feedback on the temporary fence.
“We get some people, first time viewers, who ask about it … but they all seem to accept the fact that it is a safety issue,” he said.
“I think it is going to be good,” Skehan said of the finalized permanent design.
The cut-outs placed within the temporary fence, designed so that visitors could still peer down at the gorge with an unobstructed view, were well received, according to at least one nearby business owner. The new barrier will not have those, but the spacing of the baluster should allow for the same effect and “provide ample visibility,” McCarthy said.
Now that the final design has been selected, Gill Engineering will begin drafting the final plans, targeting April to come up with the blueprints.
The state won’t hold any additional public hearings on design options, but will ask the community to attend a meeting once a construction contractor has been selected so a representative c an explain the construction sequencing and traffic control. The bridge rehabilitation project will go out to bid in fall 2020.
Construction is slated to start in early spring 2021, and it will take two seasons to complete, with cleaning and painting below the bridge deck potentially lingering into a third year.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi @vnews.co m or 603-727- 3248.