GUILFORD — The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) is recommending complete replacement of a structurally deficient bridge on Route 5 over the Broad Brook in Algiers, and recommends detouring traffic onto Interstate 91.
The AOT will hold a meeting to consider public comment on Thursday, Dec. 12, at 6:30 p.m., at the Guilford Volunteer Fire Department at 108 Guilford Center Rd.
Town officials warn this might be the only opportunity for townspeople to weigh in on the state's plans for the project.
The detour scenario will cost an estimated $2.013 million and would be completed in six months.
The other viable alternative - and the one “strongly” endorsed by Fire Chief Jerod Bristol, the report notes in appended documents - calls for a 400-foot temporary span, joining Route 5 with Bee Barn Road and requiring a “fairly large amount of temporary rights” and clearing for construction the “archaeologically sensitive area” near the brook's historic mills.
That scenario would take 18 months of construction and would cost an estimated $2.39 million.
According to the report, closing the bridge outright will provide advantages in terms of time, cost, and worker safety.
Traffic would be detoured over I-91 between Exit 28 in Bernardston, Mass., and Exit 1 in Brattleboro.
A separate detour route would accommodate bicycle traffic, which cannot travel on the interstate.
An unofficial alternative - Broad Brook Road to Route 142 - cannot be signed as the official detour, but can also be used.
The report noted that both wing walls (retaining walls) are failing at the first abutment, and several design features of the 1925 bridge do not meet the state standards, last revised in 1997.
It also cites a 2011 inspection that says one of the wings “could fail at any time taking the embankment for the approach with it; and could undermine the approach.”
The report also rejects the possibility that the bridge, estimated to fail within 10 years, can be repaired rather than replaced.
“The costs associated with temporarily supporting or removing and replacing the superstructure while the substructures are replaced could easily cost more than half the cost of a replacement superstructure,” the report says. “Based on the geometric limitations, costs and age of the superstructure, no rehabilitation option will be considered further in this report.”
The full report is posted on the town website (guilfordvt.net).