BETHEL – Bridges were discussed at length at Monday night’s Bethel Board of Selectmen meeting. Specifically, Rabbit Road Bridge, which spans the Alder River, and the town’s new 400-foot-long recreational bridge over the Androscoggin River.
On Oct. 12, several town officials inspected the condition of Rabbit Road Bridge, a 21-foot-long span that has been posted for traffic weighing up to 3 tons only.
Now, because the state won’t repair the bridge, the town must come up with $25,000 to $75,000 to fix it.
There are two options: Either remove the existing bridge deck, and place a new deck on existing concrete abutments, keeping road alignment slightly canted north when approaching Route 26; or replace it with a prefabricated concrete culvert and adjust the road alignment.
Any kind of work, however, would require that the crossing be closed for 7 to 10 days, with temporary maintenance of an alternative route for the three households on the far side of the river, said Town Manager Scott Cole.
The board ruled out the option of permanent road and bridge discontinuance at a meeting on Oct. 3.
Cole said selectmen could use money from the town’s undesignated fund balance, which closed at $688,000 on June 30, to fund the project.
Ultimately, townspeople are to decide the issue at a special town meeting tentatively scheduled for Nov. 7.
The board also approved a recreational trails and bridges ordinance that defines access to trails and bridges, and regulations governing them.
That, too, must be OK’d by townspeople on Nov. 7, to allow operation of snowmobiles on the new Androscoggin River bridge only from Nov. 14 through April 30, and operation of snowmobile and cross-country grooming equipment during the same time.
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