NORRIDGEWOCK (AP) – One week after the U.S. House of Representatives approved $4 million to replace the Norridgewock bridge, the 77-year-old span across the Kennebec River was damaged by a log skidder being hauled on a tractor-trailer.

No one was injured in the lunch-hour crash Wednesday but traffic had to be rerouted for several hours to the Margaret Chase Smith bridge five miles downriver in Skowhegan.

Frank Carrigan of Madison was driving south on U.S. 201A when the boom on the skidder he was transporting on his rig apparently hit the entrance of the Norridgewock bridge, sending the first cross member crashing to the ground and causing the skidder to overturn.

Carrigan had initially stopped to allow northbound traffic to cross the bridge.

“When I started to cross, I don’t know if the machine bounced up,” he said.

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Department said the crash remained under investigation.

The arched cross member is one of about two dozen that support the concrete bridge’s four arch spans. The clearance on the bridge is posted at 14 feet.

Norm Haggan, region manager for the Maine Department of Transportation, said an engineer was on site inspecting the bridge for safety.

“The part that was broke out, we had that out and replaced awhile back and the bridge remained open,” he said.

The $4 million for the replacement bridge was included in a transportation package that won approval in the U.S. House but awaits action in the Senate. Town Manager John Doucette said he expects the new bridge to be built by 2008.

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