HARRISON — The Maine Department of Transportation has permanently closed the Scribner’s Bridge after it failed an inspection this month.

Town Manager Cass Newell said she and Emergency Management Director Raymond Laplante were notified Nov. 3 that the bridge is structurally unsound and unsafe for use. The state permanently closed the bridge that day.

The bridge crosses the Crooked River, connecting Scribner’s Mill Road in Harrison and Jesse Mill Road in Otisfield. The river is the boundary between Cumberland and Oxford counties.

Newell and Laplante filed an acknowledgement of the closure, including required information that will make Harrison eligible for any future grants or other funding to replace the bridge.

As of Nov. 14, MDOT had not released a copy of the most recent inspection. Its November 2022 inspection is listed on its online bridge report. Findings stated the deck was in poor condition, the superstructure and substructure were in serious condition and there was minor but widespread damage to the channel below. At that time the report said it met minimum limits for use.

The bridge was built in 1936. Newell said her staff is pulling archives on its history previous to that.

Several years back Harrison and Otisfield held communications about the bridge’s future but no resolution was reached at the time.

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