New Hampshire and Vermont officials reached a compromise last Friday on the width of a new, $10 million Ledyard Bridge, finally ending a lengthy standoff that threatened the entire project.
Leon Kenison, assistant commissioner of New Hampshire's Department of Transportation said, "We hope to award a contract [for the construction of the bridge] next September or October, and I expect it will take two years to construct."
Under the terms of the compromise, the new bridge, which will span the Connecticut River between Hanover and Norwich, Vt., will be 59 feet 10 inches wide.
New Hampshire officials originally planned to make the bridge 68-feet wide, but after battles with New Hampshire and Vermont residents and Vermont Governor Howard Dean, the two states agreed to the new width.
"The Ledyard Bridge is extremely important to the Connecticut River communities and it must be replaced," New Hampshire Transportation Commissioner Charles O'Leary told the Associated Press last Friday after the decision was announced.
"We could not accept the possibility of canceling the project," O'Leary said.
Kenison said the current bridge is safe to drive on but is deteriorating.
Construction crews will build half of the replacement bridge and allow traffic to pass through and then dismantle the old bridge and finish construction on the new bridge, Kenison said.
Last year New Hampshire officials planned to make the bridge 68-feet wide, but they reduced this width to 62-feet last Sept., after Hanover residents pushed for a 55-foot span.
On Dec. 28, Vermont Governor Howard Dean threatened to withdraw Vermont's support for the project unless New Hampshire officials addressed his desire to narrow the bridge to 59 feet.
"Because of what I consider a lack of cooperation from our counterparts across the river ... the bridge project will be put on hold as of the first week in January unless we have a constructive response," Dean wrote in a letter to the Valley News.
O'Leary had insisted the new bridge could not be any narrower than 62 feet because the designers involved followed an extensive process and came up with the width as a part of the overall design.
Dean became involved with the debate concerning the bridge's design last September after a referendum of Norwich residents supported a 55-foot bridge.
Kenison said Dean got into a "political pickle" by using the referendum as a mandate for a smaller bridge.
Residents in both Vermont and New Hampshire were concerned with the size of the bridge because of potential traffic and negative aesthetic and environmental aspects.
Vermont Deputy Transportation Secretary Glenn Gershaneck said negotiators on both sides of the river made little progress after Dean got involved in September, but they finally began working on a compromise early last week.
New Hampshire and Vermont officials currently estimate the project will cost $10 million, $7.8 million of which will come from federal funds set aside in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.
They have not yet determined how the additional $2.2 million will be divided between the states, but Vermont will likely pay about $500,000.
"We're glad the controversy is resolved and that we can proceed with the design and construction of the bridge," Hanover Town Manager Cliff Vermilya said.
The original design for the bridge, according to New Hampshire's plans, included two 12-foot travel lanes, two five-foot bicycle/shoulder lanes, two two-foot shoulders, two five-foot sidewalks and a 14-foot raised median that becomes a 10-foot left turn lane and four-foot median on the east end.
