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A large swath of road was washed away by the recent flooding in Antrim. -
The Liberty Farm Road bridge in Antrim experienced significant damage during the July flooding. -
—COURTESY PHOTOThe embankments along the side of Liberty Farm Road in Antrim were damaged by the recent flooding. -
Utility piping underneath the pavement was exposed due to high water levels in Antrim. -
Debris following the floods in Antrim.
Repairs on the Liberty Farm Road bridge are slated to begin soon. The bridge was damaged by flood surges after heavy rainfall and a water release from the Island Pond Dam in Stoddard in July and has been out of commission since.
The bridge experienced extensive damage to the asphalt and culverts. The town’s Department of Public Works (DPW) has been stretched thin to address all of the damaged roads in town, but despite the extensive work required, the only roads that are not yet passable are River Road and Liberty Farm Road, according to Fire Chief Marshall Gale.
“It looks like the engineers looked at it, and structurally, it looks like that the abutments, the pillars so to speak, are in good shape,” said Gale. “It’s just fixing both the ramps on each side of it. They’re going to upgrade, I think, some of the material as well as probably improve some of the construction.”
After consultations with construction firms and engineers, both state and private, the town is considering two estimates. To get the bridge restored to a passable point for vehicles, the repairs are estimated to cost approximately $95,000. The alternative is a temporary bridge that would be laid across the site of the current bridge. The bridge is delivered prefabricated and would reduce repair time. The estimated cost of this plan would be approximately $185,000.
The bridge on Liberty Farm Road is slated for replacement in 2026, an issue town officials are considering. The bridge provides a connection to the adjoining Stacy Hill Road. If left out of service until the replacement, the town would need to restore and maintain a current section of road that falls under Class VI status, which refers to a road that has not been tended by the government for more than five years.
“It’s three years away; there’s no way that the town can let that bridge be out of service for three years,” said Gale. “With that Class VI section of Stacy Hill Road for access to those residents, if that was to happen, a town would have to spend some significant money on that Class VI to get that more-permanent type of road, which would be to turn it into a Class V. So I think they want to try to avoid that. Just because it’s going to incur additional costs, and what we really want to look at is to get that bridge repaired and serviced.”
The town will be reallocating money from the highway fund, intended to reconstruct roads over the summer, to fund the repairs. If there is not enough money in the highway fund, the bridge fund will supplement if possible. Currently, the town is looking for disaster relief money from government organizations.
“We’re working with the New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and FEMA, hoping that Hillsborough County meets the, I believe, it’s 1.8 million [dollars] for a disaster declaration,” said Gale. “We can hopefully get some FEMA funds to mitigate all this damage.”
Antrim officials will be presenting the two proposed plans for the bridge at the Select Board meeting on Monday, August 14.