KINGFIELD – Men worked in the heat Wednesday fabricating a massive steel, slightly arched, multipurpose recreation bridge that’s going to span the Androscoggin River in Bethel.
The 400-foot bridge, fabricated in five pieces and not fully bolted together, stretched nearly the length of A.R.C. Enterprises’ yard in the shadow of Mt. Abram.
Fifteen to 20 workers are currently working on the bridge, company President Walter Kilbreth said Wednesday.
Two months ago, the company started fabricating the steel pieces inside a 35,000-square-foot shop, sometimes working two shifts to meet the target deadline.
It will be the longest pedestrian/bicycle bridge in Maine and will be placed just downstream of the Route 2 highway bridge in Bethel, said Maine Department of Transportation Project Manager Andy MacDonald.
Once Bethel selectmen adopt an ordinance, expected to happen in September, the multipurpose recreation bridge would also be approved for snowmobile traffic, Bethel Town Manager Scott Cole said Thursday.
$1.4M construction cost
The project is funded by a state transportation bond and federal enhancement funds, MacDonald said. Reed & Reed Inc. of Woolwich is the project’s general contractor, which has a $1.4 million construction budget, he said.
Walter Kilbreth said his company is the steel supplier and fabricator for the bridge. It teamed up with Kleinschmidt Associates of Pittsfield to do the design, Kilbreth said.
The bridge will be nearly 12 feet wide, with a 10-foot clearance that allows snowmobile groomers to cross it. It will weigh 125,000 pounds and be nearly 11 feet high.
The A.R.C. steel fabricating company has been in Franklin County for 20 years; the Portland Jetport’s arches are among its completed projects.
The new bridge is made from weathering steel, which requires no maintenance, Kilbreth said. The steel is sandblasted and then develops a coating of rust to protect it.
A lot of the bridge has already developed that coat, which MacDonald said is aesthetically pleasing.
Four pieces of the bridge are more than 80 feet long, and one is 63 feet, Kilbreth said.
The sections were made inside the shop and moved around with overhead cranes until they were taken outside for assembly.
Ready to move on Monday
On Wednesday, three pieces were already bolted together. Temporary bracing held the structure in place. A forklift moved the fourth section into place.
As Kilbreth and company Operations Manager John Sawyer explained how the bridge goes together, two chocolate Labrador retrievers, Parker and Gauge, followed them around.
State inspector Bill Coburn has watched thousands of welds take place on the bridge.
“He can tell you who welded each joint,” Sawyer said.
Both the state and A.R.C. document that information for future reference, he said.
On Monday, the company plans to start transporting the bridge to Bethel, Kilbreth said. It will take five trips during the week to move the sections, which will be carried down Route 27 to Route 4 and then Route 2.
Once in Bethel, Reed & Reed employees will do more work on the bridge before assembling and placing it over the river in August, MacDonald said.
The company will install pressure-treated decking with a “sacrificial,” or replacement, deck over that, Kilbreth said.
The bridge is expected to make it safer for people to cross the Androscoggin River and is expected to open in September, MacDonald said.
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