GILEAD – Thanks to a three-way partnership and federal funding, snowmobile riders journeying between Maine and New Hampshire can expect a safer ride.

This fall, the Wild River Riders snowmobile club joined forces with Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands and the U.S. Forest Service to build a 60-foot bridge over Bog Brook along the Gilead snowmobile trail.

“This could not have happened without the three-way partnership, each contributing essential pieces to get the bridge built,” said District Ranger Katie Stuart in Gorham, N.H.

The Gilead trail connects Maine’s ITS 80 and New Hampshire’s NH 19 corridor trails to Bethel, serving riders on extended trips and day-trippers along the Androscoggin River, said Pat Nasta, spokeswoman for the National Forest Service.

The bridge replaces the former angled bridge that was unsafe to cross and was causing unstable stream banks and soil erosion, Nasta said in a press release Tuesday.

The new bridge is a straight span with new abutments, providing safer riding and stream protection.

The $55,000 project was made possible, she said, through federal funding and the expertise of the Off Road Division of the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.

Wild River Riders of Gilead was also involved in the planning and construction. The club will be responsible for future maintenance of the bridge, grooming and signs.

The Gilead trail, Nasta said, was conceived by the local communities and constructed in 1998 by the Wild River Runners. It crosses private land, as well as lands managed by the White Mountain National Forest and the Maine Army National Guard.

“The new bridge greatly improves the safety and enjoyment of this section of trail, and we’re looking forward to many terrific seasons of riding,” Stuart said.