BUCKFIELD — The Maine Department of Transportation plans to survey Hall Bridge on Route 117 in Buckfield to see what work needs to be done, as the steel-frame structure is 80 years old.
The DOT has allocated $300,000 for the analysis of the bridge, which spans the Nezinscott River and is located 0.05 miles west of East Buckfield Road, according to the department’s work plan for calendar years 2016-18.
“The money in there is for preliminary engineering only,” said DOT Region 3 Manager Norm Haggan. “The bridge was built in 1936 so there’s no work other than survey and design and analysis in the near future.”
Haggan did not have an exact date DOT survey crews would examine Hall Bridge.
“It’s scheduled to be this year,” he said. “Depending on the conditions the survey crew could get there any time.”
The survey work will give engineers an idea of what to do with the bridge, Haggan added.
There are several possibilities, which could include “build a new bridge, put in a new ferry, who knows? We can’t come to that conclusion until we look at it for future improvements,” he said.”You shouldn’t have anything big for a few years.”
The DOT’s work plan showed in fiscal year 2015, the department provided Buckfield with $43,992 in local road assistance. The funds covered a bridge inspection, 50 feet of guardrail or fence mended, minor signs installed or maintained, 100 feet of shoulder rebuilt, 25.6 miles of striping, 0.25 tons of cold patch, 0.6 miles of shoulder sweeping, one drainage structure repaired and bridges were washed.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
