Voters in Norwich, Vt. Tuesday affirmed a compromise reached earlier this month by the town of Hanover and New Hampshire officials over the proposed expansion of Ledyard Bridge.
On Sept. 9, the Ledyard Bridge Committee, -- a committee appointed by the Hanover Board of Selectmen -- reached an agreement for a 62-foot wide bridge.
State officials had planned to build a new 68-foot bridge but the committee favored a 55-foot bridge. The committee was formed after voters at Hanover's Town Meeting last spring expressed their concerns with the state proposal. The bridge spans the Connecticut river, linking Norwich to Hanover.
In Tuesday's referendum Norwich residents voted 443-257 to support a new Ledyard Bridge of "minimal width (about 55 feet wide)."
Another article voted on in the referendum was defeated. It called for the intervention of Vermont Governor Howard Dean to negotiate a bridge no wider than 46 feet.
But Vermont Governor Howard Dean said he would use the referendum as a mandate to renegotiate with New Hampshire officials for a 55 foot bridge width, the Valley News reported yesterday.
But Patricia Shultz, a Norwich resident who drafted the article that won residents' support, said Dean misinterpreted the referendum's outcome.
Shultz said the article was really asking voters to support the Ledyard Bridge Committee's position for a bridge of minimal width. The article was written before the 62-foot compromise and the 55-foot wording could not be eliminated. Shultz said the 55-foot figure was an approximation.
Shultz said voters were informed of the committee's deal.
"There were handouts. It was in the newspapers. There was a town meeting Monday night," she said. "It seems to me it is a violation of the democratic process to say, 'I interpret it this way.'"
Kathleen Hoyt, Dean's chief-of-staff, told the Valley News the governor's decision to act was based on the referendum's actual wording, not the meaning intended by Shultz.
Dean will face re-election in November.
Bob Barry, the bridge project manager for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, said he was unaware of the referendum's result.
"I don't have any comment at this point in time," Barry said. "We are proceeding with a plan for a bridge which is 62 feet."
Residents on both sides of the Connecticut river have expressed reservations about the proposed size for the bridge, which was originally set at 68 feet but has since been scaled down. Objections concern potential traffic problems plus negative aesthetic and environmental impacts.
