WEST LEBANON — Citing a recent change in stance from the company that leases the train tracks below the so-called “dry bridge” in West Lebanon, the City Council and city engineer say there are just a few viable options for moving forward with the project to replace the span, which connects Main Street to Route 12A.
The City Council is asking residents next week to weigh in on whether to close it to vehicle traffic for a year, or go with a construction plan that keeps the bridge open to two-way traffic for the majority of the project. Keeping it open would cost an additional $3 million and extend the length of construction.
City officials also are floating a third option of asking contractors to present proposals for both and weighing the costs against the value of keeping the bridge open. But, Councilor Tim McNamara warned that this might put off contractors because it amounts to twice the work and expense for companies to submit a bid.
Residents are invited to share their input on which approach would be best during a public session on Wednesday, July 16.
The bridge is on the state of New Hampshire’s “red list” meaning it is in poor condition. In March, it was closed for about a month for emergency repairs after an inspection found it unsafe for travel.
If the bridge stays open during the bridge replacement, it is estimated the project would cost about $16 million — of which the state is expected to cover 80%.
In addition to reducing the project cost by $3 million, closing the bridge would trim about four months off the total construction period, bringing it to about two years, according to a memo the Lebanon Department of Public Works submitted to the council. The bridge would be closed for about 12 months of that time.
The Department of Public Works is concerned that the challenges of accommodating train traffic below the bridge, which workers would have to do with 15 minutes notice, while also managing vehicle traffic on the bridge will make companies either not bid on the project or submit expensive offers, according to the memo.
“If we don’t get any bidders because of this, then ultimately the bridge will be closed forever,” interim City Manager Jack Wozmak told the Council.
The state has twice as many bridges as usual out for bid in the coming months so the project could be an easy one for companies to pass up, City Engineer Brian Vincent said.
The department believes that closing the bridge could make the project, which has been in the works for more than 30 years, more appealing because “many of the constructability challenges and hardships for bidders/contractors are removed or softened.”
To get a full picture of the situation, the Council wants to know how people would be impacted by the closure and if they think keeping the bridge open is worth it.
One option that is no longer under discussion is the possibility of closing any portion of the railroad tracks below the bridge during construction.
Until recently, Vincent said the city and New England Central Railroad, which leases the tracks from the state, had talked about closing one of the two tracks that run below the bridge at a time, while each half of the structure is replaced. Another alternative would have been installing a transloading facility that would move cargo from trains to other transportation like trucks in order to keep shipments moving to their destinations.
More recently, however, the railroad company has said it will not consider any construction plans that would require the tracks to be partially closed or otherwise disrupt rail service, Vincent said.
The company has shifted its tune in the last two months or so, Vincent said.
All of the restrictions present hardships to contractors and will likely make the project more expensive and less appealing, he told the Council.
For the railroad company’s part, “shutting down railroad operations for any period of time impacts the supply chain for area businesses that directly depend on us,” a spokesperson for the company said via email Thursday.
The freight trains that use the tracks carry material to Twin State Sand and Gravel and Carroll Concrete.
Twin State Sand and Gravel has been in “close contact” with Vincent as the city works on its construction plans and is “more than willing to work with the city” on scheduling as long as they can have an active voice in the conversation, President Seth Ames said Tuesday.
Twin State primarily uses the rails in the winter time to move shipments of rock salt, so what time of year a closure or track disruptions might occur would make a big difference for the business, Ames said.
“If it was going to be shut down for two years that would be a big problem for us. But if it was going to be an intermittent shut down and we could work with the city and DOT on scheduling, there’s a good possibility we could make it work,” Ames said.
Still, Ames said the process has been concerning for the company at times and they did lose one major client that distributed fertilizer through Twin State when there were discussions of closing the railroad.
Vincent, the city engineer, described both Twin State and Carroll Concrete as “cooperative” and open to discussing the project.
Instead, he said the lack of cooperation has come from the railroad alone.
“The railroad is costing the city money and preventing residents from being safe, preventing residents from traveling where they want and need to go,” City Councilor Laurel Stavis said at the meeting last week. “…This is not something that the city is doing, that this is something that a private entity is doing to the city.”
In response to this claim, the NECR spokesperson said the company “strives every day to be a good steward of the communities we serve and deliver safe, efficient and sustainable freight transportation service. We have explored various options with the state and the city to maintain operations while accommodating a multi-month project.”
After years of delays from every direction, Vincent told the council that the city is now “under pressure” from the Federal Highway Administration to put the project out to bid by mid-September. The city is in the process of preparing a request for proposals to find a contractor for the project.
Along with hearing from residents on July 16, Mayor Doug Whittlesey said he has reached out to stakeholders like the Lebanon School District, the Police and Fire departments and Advance Transit to see how closing the bridge for a year could impact them based on their experiences during the March closure.
During the temporary bridge closure, traffic was routed along a roughly 2-mile long detour up Seminary Hill and either back down Glen Road through a one-lane underpass or over Interstate 89 to reach Route 12A from old West Lebanon, causing slow downs on the local road.
The public input session will be during the July 16 City Council meeting at 6 p.m. in City Hall.
Clare Shanahan can be reached at cshanahan@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.
