ROCKINGHAM — The town will mark the one-year anniversary of Tropical Storm Irene and the loss of the Lower Bartonsville Covered Bridge with a ceremony and barbecue at the bridge site on Tuesday, Aug. 28.
The event, which will also celebrate the next stage of work to replace the bridge, will begin at 4 p.m. If work goes as scheduled, the new bridge will be open by mid-January.
The Bartonsville Covered Bridge was built in 1870 and is the main link to the village of Lower Bartonsville. Record flooding on the Williams River caused by Tropical Storm Irene on Aug. 28, 2011, swept the bridge off its abutments and carried it downstream. A temporary one-lane metal bridge is in its place.
According to Town Manager Timothy Cullenen, the contractor, Cold River Bridges, of Walpole, N.H., is beginning trestle construction and hopes to get the major construction work started in October and November.
Cullenen told the Selectboard at a meeting earlier this month that the bridge will be closed down in late November to remove the temporary bridge and place the new covered bridge on its trestle.
However, Cullenen told the Selectboard that the Vermont League of Cities and Towns' (VLCT) insurance policy will cover only $230,000 of the repair costs, leaving the town responsible for $700,000.
The amount of reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is not yet known, Cullenen said.
The Selectboard has scheduled a special meeting for Thursday, Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the VLCT insurance situation, and other issues related to the bridge work.