WOODSTOCK — The Mill Road bridge over the Ottauquechee River is closed to vehicle traffic after an inspection found cracks in several of its floor beams, according to Woodstock Municipal Manager Eric Duffy.
The town closed the bridge on Tuesday based on guidance from Vermont Emergency Management. Duffy said the agency was doing a routine check of the town’s bridges when it found the damage.
“They found that multiple floor beams have cracks in them,” Duffy said. “And so their recommendation was that we close the bridge, have an engineer come out to review the bridge and see if it needs repairs or not.”
Duffy said the problem was not identified in the bridge’s last inspection.
“So this is a new situation,” he said.
The town has lined up two engineers to look at the structure.
“One can potentially come out Thursday. One potentially on Friday,” Duffy said. “So we’re hopeful to have something by the end of this week.”
In the meantime, drivers can use the nearby Lincoln Bridge and College Hill Road instead, Duffy said.
Duffy said he had not seen traffic problems as of Tuesday. He said the town contacted the school system before the closure “so they could send messages out to the families and the buses to make sure people are aware of it ahead of time.”
The school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether bus routes are affected.
The steel through-arch bridge was built in 1900 and reconstructed in 2002, according to a Vermont Agency of Transportation inspection report from September 2024. The one-lane bridge carried an average of about 400 vehicles a day as of 2019.
That 2024 inspection rated the bridge’s floor beams in good condition, with minor surface rust caused by dirt buildup. It noted corrosion on two of the bridge’s stringers, the beams that run lengthwise under the deck, and recommended they be cleaned and painted. The report included a 2020 estimate of about $916,000 to rehabilitate the bridge.
The town owns and maintains the bridge.