RUMFORD – Residents will have a chance next week to learn about a plan to replace the Martin Memorial Bridge in Rumford Point.

An informational session to gather comments and ideas will be held by the Maine Department of Transportation at 6 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Rumford Municipal Building.

MDOT engineer Leanne Timberlake in the project manager for the planned replacement.

She said the steel-trussed, three-span bridge over the Androscoggin River will likely be replaced by a steel or concrete girder bridge.

The current bridge is similar to many throughout the state that have been replaced in recent years, including the Ridlonville Bridge, now known as the Veterans Bridge, over the Androscoggin River. It connects Rumford and Mexico.

Many steel-trussed bridges are not high enough or wide enough to accommodate modern transportation vehicles.

She said one of the main topics of the informational meeting concerns the alignment of the 605-foot-long bridge. She said options include leaving it the same, building the new bridge parallel to the existing structure, or moving it up- or downstream from the current site.

“We’re trying to get away from the village area,” she said.

She said state funding is not yet available. The earliest the bridge could be replaced would be in 2012-13. A rough estimate of the replacement cost is between $11 million and $14 million, she said.

Once public comment is made, the MDOT, together with engineering consultants for the project, Kleinfelder-SEA of Augusta, will determine the alignment of the replacement bridge. That could come as early as this fall.

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