In response to a petition drive organized by local residents, the town of Norwich, Vt., has called a special town meeting to discuss the proposed plans for the replacement of the Ledyard Bridge.
The meeting will likely be held Sept. 12, according to Norwich town officials.
The town meeting will be followed the next day by a referendum asking residents to decide if they favor a replacement bridge that is less than 46 feet wide.
Current plans call for construction to begin in the fall of 1995, on a 66-foot wide structure, more than twice the width of the current bridge.
The plan calls for a lane running in each direction, a 16-foot median down the center and a sidewalk and bicycle path on both sides.
The median will become a left- turn lane on the Hanover side.
But Bob Barry, the bridge project manager for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation said the state plans to go ahead with the construction.
"We have every hope and intention of meeting the schedule," Barry said.
Petition drive organizers, who collected 163 signatures, say the left turn lane is unnecessary.
To force a special town meeting, 117 voters, five percent of those registered in Norwich, must sign a petition.
Deborah Boettiger, who helped organize the petition drive, said "We don't think that it's necessary to have a complete turning lane."
She said the idea for a petition drive came from a meeting she and some other concerned residents had with Vermont Governor Howard Dean two weeks ago.
Dean suggested the town be polled to see if there is support for a smaller bridge before the state of Vermont become further involved, Boettiger said.
But even if the referendum passes, New Hampshire will not consider reducing the bridge's width by nearly as much as the petitioners would like.
"The turning lane will remain," Barry said. "It is hard to say what type of effect the Norwich meeting could have."
New Hampshire transportation officials are already considering a suggestion that was made by a special committee commissioned by the Hanover Town Board and Town Selectmen to, among other things, reduce the bridge's width to 55 feet.
Barry said the state should have a response to the committee's requests ready "very soon."
Boettiger said even if New Hampshire agrees to reduce the width to 55 feet, the Norwich group will not be satisfied.
"We would like it less than 55 feet," she said. "It impacts a lot on both sides. The wider the bridge, the more shoreline it uses."
It is unclear what power the Norwich referendum or Dean would have to influence the bridge design.
"Vermont does own twenty percent of the bridge and Vermont will be paying for part of it," Boettiger said.
"The issue pertains to New Hampshire layout on the New Hampshire portion of the bridge," Barry said, although, "certainly Norwich has an interest."
But Barry also said those interests have already been considered.
"We have held a successful public hearing process in the State of Vermont, we have held a public hearing process in New Hampshire," he said.
