Bridge decision hinges on costs

BUCKSPORT – The deadline is nearing for planners to make a decision on the style of bridge to replace the Waldo-Hancock Bridge, but local residents learned on Monday night that cost factors could limit their choice.

Project Manager Tom Doe told members of the local public advisory committee on Monday that they need to decide on a preferred option within the next few weeks in order to meet the Maine Department of Transportation’s goal of building a new bridge by July 2005.

Committe members have been working with DOT engineers to plan for a new bridge to replace the 72-year-old bridge and last month narrowed their choices to two: a suspension bridge and a cable-stayed bridge.

The old bridge has suffered deterioration to its main cables and has been posted since July to a 12-ton limit for vehicles.

The advisory committee’s recommendation would be considered in a DOT plan for the bridge, which also will require approval from the Federal Highway Administration.

When committee member Denise Sheehan of Bucksport asked if the DOT would build a suspension bridge if the PAC asked for it, Doe said probably not if engineers’ estimates are correct. According to engineers, however, the construction component of a suspension bridge would cost 15 percent more than a cable-stayed bridge.

The total costs for the project include construction, engineering, planning and other related expenses.

According to one estimate, the difference in construction costs would add about $5 million to the estimated $50 million project. Doe suggested that a $5 million increase to the price tag might not go over well with state legislators.

“They’re not going to be happy with us if they have to come up with another $5 million,” he said.

A suspension bridge is the style of the existing bridge the department plans to replace. A cable-stayed bridge, which is the general style of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge constructed as part of Boston’s Big Dig, relies on cables spreading fanlike from pylons to support the bridge deck.

Deputy Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note, who attended the session, also said the department has a fiscal responsibility to the state’s taxpayers, but stressed that a specific decision on bridge style has not been made yet. He added that the DOT might be willing to pay more to satisfy “aesthetic” concerns, but did not discuss specific amounts.

Doe’s comment clearly angered some advisory committee members and frustrated others.

“What are we doing here then?” asked one committee member.

Others closed their notebooks and appeared to be ready to walk out of the meeting. Afterward, some suggested – half in jest – that they boycott the next meeting.

“I was disappointed,” Sheehan said after the meeting. “I hoped that it might be a different answer and that the work we’ve been doing would have had a little more impact.”

DOT planners have said all along that a suspension bridge would be the most expensive style of bridge to build, and Doe acknowledged earlier in the meeting that the department has a definite preference for a cable-stayed bridge.

Committee members have raised questions about the cable-stayed bridge, and some have indicated a clear preference for a suspension bridge. Recent meetings have focused on the pros and cons of each design, to which members still have questions.

The advisory committee will not meet again until the DOT has answers to those questions.