Hearing set on new Route 1 bridge

AUGUSTA – Legislators will meet next week to hear public comments on a proposal that calls for the Department of Transportation to build a new Waldo-Hancock Bridge across the Penobscot River.

State Rep. Donald Berry, R-Belmont, introduced the emergency measure at the start of the current session in response to new information that the main cables of the existing bridge are more corroded than previously thought. The bridge is in the middle of a six-year, $25 million repair project.

“If it wasn’t for that new information, I wouldn’t have brought this bill back,” Berry said Thursday. “My message is that we have got to do a detailed study and get ready to replace this bridge.”

The Legislature’s Transportation Committee will hold the hearing at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in Room 126 at the State House.

The bill already is gaining support from local municipal officials and other legislators.

Efforts on Thursday to reach DOT Acting Commissioner Carl Croce for comment were unsuccessful.

The bridge, which extends from Verona Island to Prospect, carries busy Route 1 over the Penobscot River, providing a key route for local motorists, tourists and commercial traffic heading Down East.

Berry introduced similar legislation to replace the bridge during the last session of the Legislature, but the Transportation Committee voted unanimously not to pass that bill.

According to Berry, the difference in the latest proposal is that the circumstances have changed.

“Two years ago, the department was saying that everything was fine, that they could recoat the cables,” Berry said. “It turns out that that scenario is not true.”

Concerns over corrosion in the main cables were among the reasons the department started the reconstruction project, according to DOT engineers. Inspections of the main cable on the north side of the bridge last fall, however, revealed that the corrosion was more extensive than anticipated.

The department ordered a new, independent study last fall to determine the extent and rate of corrosion in the two main cables. Results of that study should be available within the next few weeks, according to bridge project manager Devin Anderson.

At a November meeting with the local public advisory committee, DOT engineers conceded that the corrosion problem could limit the useful life of the reconstructed bridge and that correcting the problems could make continuing the repairs unfeasible.

That’s part of Berry’s argument for a new bridge. At some point, the cost of repairing the bridge approaches the cost of a new bridge, he said.

Although the initial cost estimate for the repair project was $25 million, estimates now put the cost closer to $30 million, and engineers admit that the corrosion problem could boost that even higher. Estimates on the cost of a new bridge range around $60 million.

“At some point you have to ask how much you’re going to put into an existing facility and what you expect to get in terms of the life of the bridge, and what you’ll get from a new bridge,” he said. “You hit a point where it’s not an economical use of state money.”

The bridge is safe now, Berry said, but he is concerned about how long it will remain safe, and the impact on midcoast communities if the bridge had to be closed or if traffic over it had to be limited.

“What it means is that it would knock us out of the travel category,” said Berry, whose House district includes Searsport, which straddles Route 1. “You’ve already got AAA saying there’s a problem with this bridge and telling drivers to expect delays.”

He noted that Tuesday, the day set for the public hearing, is “tourism day” at the Legislature, and the State House will be filled with representatives of the tourism industry.

That threat to the coastal economy has helped Berry garner support for his proposal from representatives along the coast from Camden to Ellsworth.

Members of the public advisory committee argued for a new bridge two years ago and expressed frustration last fall that they were now dealing with the same kinds of issues they had then.

Bucksport councilors also have weighed in on the issue, expressing support for a new bridge.

Berry said he doesn’t expect a decision immediately, but he does expect his proposal will fare better than it did during the last legislative session.

“I think the results will be different,” he said. “There’s a new administration that realizes that they’re dealing with different problems than they were facing two years ago.”

Still, it takes time, he admits. Replacing the bridge would involve obtaining federal funding as well as preparing studies, although DOT has conducted preliminary studies on possible sites for a new bridge.

The point of the bill is that it places the problem with the people who can do something about it, the legislator said.

“It puts it in front of the jurisdictional committee, the Legislature and the people,” he said. “That is critical. The people need to have their questions answered.”