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Staff: US-31 Business Route bridge over White River needs $20–30 million replacement
Summary
A staff member told the meeting transcript that the US‑31 business route bridge over the White River shows serious structural deterioration, estimating replacement at $20–30 million and warning the structure could be closed if funding is not secured. Community impacts cited include tourists, local businesses, schools and first responders.
A staff member recorded in the meeting transcript said the US‑31 business route bridge over the White River is showing significant deterioration and will likely require replacement, estimated at $20 million to $30 million.
The staff member said: “We are at The US 31 business route over the White River. It was originally constructed in 1929 to a concrete camelback structure and then in 1986 it was rehabbed to widen the existing substructure and then placed in a configuration it is today with an adjacent concrete box beam structure. With the type of superstructure that it is, it has a very thin concrete layer on it and and it is showing its wear and signs of deterioration. There's large areas with, transverse cracking and diagonal cracking throughout the deck and it is definitely delaminated from the superstructure itself. So it's only another, you know, another element proving that we need to, provide some investment on this structure.”
Why it matters: The staff member said the structure is important to tourists and local commerce and that closure or restricted access would affect schools, emergency response and nearby businesses. “Terrible. It would really be terrible for the community between our schools, Montague Whitehall, our first responders, the fire department, the police department, our ambulances. It would it would be awful. They'd have to go all the way around when they could just take a quick second and go over the bridge and help right there,” a resident told the record.
The transcript records technical details the staff member gave about the bridge's condition: the box beams contain prestressing strands and “a number of those strands on a number of the beams are are are broken strands right now.” They said the substructure is shallow enough that “in high water events the structure is at risk of losing stability on its foundation,” and that staff monitor the structure routinely. The staff member said the current replacement estimate is “around $20 to $30,000,000.”
The bridge was originally built in 1929 and rehabilitated in 1986, according to the transcript. The staff member also said the structure sits adjacent to park, wetland, lake, river and commercial properties, and that closing or heavily restricting the bridge would have “a pretty dramatic effect on the on the adjacent community.”
The transcript does not specify funding sources, a timeline for replacement or a schedule of next steps. It also does not record a vote or formal action on the matter; the comments are presented as technical assessment and community concern recorded in the meeting transcript.
