Visitors would have a panoramic view of Penobscot Bay and the White Mountains.

AUGUSTA (AP) – Transportation officials have proposed building an observation deck atop the tower on one of two designs for a new bridge to replace the deteriorating Waldo-Hancock Bridge.

Visitors would take an elevator up a 420-foot tower to the deck, where they would have a panoramic view of Penobscot Bay and inland to the White Mountains, said Deputy Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note.

Department of Transportation officials said they have determined it is feasible to adapt one of the proposed tower designs to include the elevator and observatory, despite the already-high cost estimates on the project.

Contractor estimates on the cost of the project came in this week at $77.5 million, well above the department’s initial $51 million estimate.

Van Note said the proposal could resolve concerns over the tower design chosen by local residents during a workshop last month, and provide an economic boost to the area as well.

The observatory proposal would adapt a bridge design with a single tower, as opposed to the traditional double-tower design that was the preferred choice of residents during a meeting last month.

Van Note said the tower would resemble the Washington Monument and taper from a 41-foot base to an area of about 23 feet at the observation levels.

The elevator would carry visitors to the first deck, and a set of stairs would lead to the upper observation area.

Van Note said the proposal will not reverse the local decision.

If residents at a second design workshop next week don’t like the idea, the department will continue to work on the H-shape tower design.

“When we started looking at the Washington Monument on the Internet, the first thing we saw was that there was an elevator in it,” he said. “We started thinking that we could take what is conceived as a drawback of these towers – that they are so high – and turn it into a positive. The positive would be that you could get up there and see.”

The new bridge will replace the 72-year-old suspension bridge, which crosses the Penobscot River between Prospect and Verona.

Inspections this year determined that the bridge’s main cables had significant deterioration, and state officials determined that the bridge should be replaced. The DOT wants the bridge completed by July 1, 2005.

The estimated costs of the double-tower design chosen by local residents and the single-tower design needed for the elevator and observatory are comparable, Van Note said.

AP-ES-11-15-03 1250EST