Bridge removal draws interest of Homeland Security officials

PROSPECT – The state Department of Transportation may have found a federal partner to help with the removal of the old Waldo-Hancock Bridge.

Although discussions are still in the early stages, DOT officials confirmed Friday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has expressed interest in the bridge.

“As for the details on what they want to do with it, we don’t know yet,” said Gary Williams, DOT’s director of planning and research.

A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security was unable to comment on the plan late Friday afternoon.

Williams suggested that the Homeland Security Department might be able to gather some useful information from the aging Waldo-Hancock Bridge.

“There may be an interest in doing some testing,” he said. “The bridge has been there for 77 years, in a weathered environment with traffic on it. There may be some benefit in doing some testing on it. There are a lot of those bridges around and we’ve got a real-life laboratory out there.”

The bridge was built in 1931 and carried Route 1 traffic across the Penobscot River until Dec. 30, 2006, when the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge was opened to traffic.

Deterioration in the bridge’s main cables forced DOT to abandon the bridge and build the new one.

The Penobscot Narrows Bridge was built next to the older bridge, and any federal work on the Waldo-Hancock Bridge would have take that proximity into consideration.

“We’re not going to compromise safety or environmental concerns,” Williams said.

Another option, he said, would be to remove the bridge and do some off-site testing on it.

DOT planned to remove the old bridge once the Penobscot Narrows Bridge was opened to traffic, and earlier this year, Gov. John Baldacci announced a four-year bridge investment, bond-issue plan to repair, replace and remove bridges around the state. Included in that plan was $6 million to remove the Waldo-Hancock Bridge. Although that figure was about half the initial cost estimates to remove the bridge, it is still a considerable cost for the people of Maine, Williams said.

“We’ve got an old bridge out there that needs to be removed and that’s going to be a burden on taxpayers,” he said. “If we have a partner interested in working with us, we’re certainly going to try to talk with them.”

Williams stressed that there have been no detailed talks about the Homeland Security Department’s interest in the bridge, but he said DOT is hopeful that the interest in the bridge could help defray some of those costs.

DOT officials initially indicated the removal of the Waldo-Hancock Bridge would likely begin sometime during the governor’s four-year bridge plan. However, the department may face pressure from another federal agency to get the work done before then. According to Williams, DOT is negotiating with the U.S. Coast Guard which could require that the bridge be removed by June 30, 2010.

rhewitt@bangordailynews.net

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