With spring weather close by in the Northeast, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) has restarted construction of an eight-span steel girder bridge to replace two existing spans carrying NH Route 119 in Hinsdale, N.H., over the Connecticut River into Brattleboro, Vt.

Reed & Reed Inc., of Woolwich, Maine, is the general contractor for the $61.2 million project that has an expected completion date of Oct. 25, 2024.

The bridge replacement effort began at the end of June 2021 and is being carried out by a Project Lead Team consisting of NHDOT and the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), along with New Hampshire's Southwest Regional Planning Commission, and the Windham Regional Commission in Vermont.

NHDOT serves as the project's lead implementer.

The new Hinsdale-to-Brattleboro bridge will replace the Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh truss bridges, both of which were opened in 1920, as a carrier of cars and trucks. The 122-year-old structures will not be demolished; instead, they will be rehabilitated for pedestrian access only, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.

A Busy Workload Ahead on Both Sides of the River

As work progresses this year on both NH 119 in Hinsdale and Vermont Route 142 in Brattleboro, Mark Moran, communications coordinator for the NHDOT's construction bureau, noted that motorists can expect times where alternating one-way traffic patterns, with periods of short delays and lane shifts, will be needed.

"Work has commenced on both sides of the river with temporary trestle construction, bridge abutment and pier work occurring in New Hampshire," Moran wrote in an email to the Brattleboro Reformer. "As the construction season gets under way, Reed & Reed will continue to make [its] way into the river from New Hampshire via NH 119 with continued trestle construction to gain access to six of the seven proposed pier locations."

He added that during the bridge replacement project, crews will realign this section of NH 119 to completely bypass the two older structures. The reconstruction will begin approximately 600 ft. south of Georges Field Road and extend north and west along the new alignment for six-tenths of a mile before connecting to VT 142 in Brattleboro. At that point, a new intersection is to be installed 900 ft. south of the existing intersection of VT 119 and VT 142.

Approximately 1,700 ft. of VT 142 also will be rebuilt as part of the project, in addition to the construction of a new boat ramp on the New Hampshire side of the river.

Recently, the Raymond Metals building on Vernon Street (VT 142) in Brattleboro was razed to make way for the bridge landing at that location.

"The initial stages of underground utility and drainage improvements have begun along VT 142 between Royal Road and Bridge Street," Moran explained in his email to the Brattleboro newspaper. "Work to replace and relocate underground infrastructure will continue throughout the spring and summer months, with Vermont's bridge abutment work anticipated to begin late summer or early fall of 2022."

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