LEWISTON — Major repairs to a small but important bridge to the Simard-Payne Memorial Park may wait but councilors said they were fine with less expensive short-term fixes.
Councilors favored a plan to spend up to $25,000 to make the 55-foot-long Beech Street bridge able to hold up to 20 tons.
The bridge is at the end of Beech Street and is designed to carry vehicle traffic from Oxford Street over the canal and onto the park. Pedestrian bridges, one just north of Birch Street, another on the north end of the park and a third over the Androscoggin River to Auburn, are not affected.
A February inspection showed the Beech Street bridge had deteriorated significantly and the city posted a sign warning it could not carry more than two tons.
That rules out most trucks, SUVs, semis and all city fire and ambulance rescue vehicles, Public Works Director Dave Jones said.
That’s a problem for Museum LA, hoping to do demolition and repairs now at the old Camden Yarn Mill, the future home of the museum.
“We have more than $600,000 worth of work on hold because we can’t get any of our equipment over there,” Rachel Desgrosseilliers, museum executive director, said. “The other problem we have is that fire and ambulance can’t cross over. If something should happen, we have no way to protect our workers.”
It’s also a problem for special events and festivals that use the park. Representatives from the Great Falls Balloon Festival and the Dempsey Challenge said they’d have to find other locations if the bridge isn’t fixed.
The situation is further complicated by ownership of the bridge, Jones said. City records seem to indicate the city doesn’t own it, but neither the museum nor Florida Power and Light, which owns the canal the bridge crosses, will not claim it either.
City Manager Ed Barrett told councilors a title search could cost up to $25,000 and not provide any answers.
Local attorney and museum backer Elliott Epstein suggested the city simply condemn the bridge and take it over. But at least two councilors said they wanted to know who owns the bridge.
“My belief is that this bridge is important to the city, but it’s also important to other property owners there,” he said. “That means it’s important to everybody that uses that bridge. So I don’t think the city should take on the responsibility of repairs by itself.”
Jones said he could have the repairs finished in a month, and said he plans to present a formal action plan to councilors at a later meeting.
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