RUMFORD — It could be back to the drawing board for state transportation bridge designers who created the latest plan to replace Martin Memorial Bridge at Rumford Point.

A handful of people and property owners told Maine Department of Transportation representatives Wednesday night they didn’t like the new location at all.

It’s just upstream of the current 55-year-old steel-trussed bridge.

Instead, Bill Dunton and Jim Knight suggested moving the bridge about 200 feet upriver to eliminate what they called a “dangerous intersection” and provide drivers exiting the bridge with more sight distance along Route 2.

Additionally, such a move would spare Bill Dunton’s house and barn, which were built in 1865, but it would eliminate two dilapidated buildings at the location farther west of Dunton’s property.

With the current design, Dunton and others learned his house, barn and shed, which he’s been trying to sell, had to go to accommodate the new 605-foot steel span and realignment of the Route 232-Route 2 intersection.

“You’re bringing a bridge into an historically bad corner,” Dunton said.

He then pointed out previous tractor-trailer truck accidents on the MDOT design map of the village along Route 2, including one containing sulfuric acid that landed beside the church.

“This is the best solution, but if there’s no support for it, we would look at a better way,” Leeanne Timberlake, MDOT project engineer, said.

Earlier, Keith S. Wood, senior project engineer for MDOT consultant Kleinfelder-SEA, said the proposed bridge would be 32 feet wide, with two 11-foot-wide lanes and two 5-foot-wide shoulders to better accommodate snowmobile traffic.

The current bridge, which is only 24 feet wide, would be used to maintain traffic until the new bridge is built, Wood said.

The current traffic island would also be removed, increasing sight distance by 125 feet, he said.

Wood said 2,000 cars a day travel across the bridge on Route 232, while 10,000 to 20,000 pass by on Route 2.

Wood said they redesigned the intersection coming off the bridge to fit Route 2’s 35 mph zone.

But just about everybody in the crowd said wood chip tractor-trailer trucks or logging trucks routinely drive through there on Route 2 at speeds greater than 45 mph, making it a dangerous intersection to cross or enter from driveways.

Wood said the current design, which is estimated to cost $11.8 million, would also move the bridge farther west of the Rumford Point Congregational Church, increasing its parking space.

But there won’t be any federal funding for the work for another five to eight years, he said.

Bob Fortin wants Route 232 lengthened to the ridge farther upriver and the span placed across the Androscoggin opposite the Trails End Motel in Rumford Point.

“That’s the common sense solution,” Fortin said.

But Wood said they designed the bridge just upstream of the current bridge because it was more cost effective and it minimizes impact to Rumford Point’s historic district.

Historic reasons are also why they designed the bridge as close to the old one as possible.

“There’s been a bridge or ferry there dating back over 100 years,” Ben Condon, MDOT assistant project manager, said.

He said that moving the span 200 feet upstream isn’t feasible because it would mean relocating the Route 232 approach onto floodplain wetlands.

“Mother Nature has taken care of the ferries,” resident Carol Parise said. “The safety of Route 2 is the more important issue.

“We’ll take another look at the upper alignment,” Timberlake said.

“Go up the ridge, that’s the smart move,” Fortin said, still championing his suggestion.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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