The Antrim Select Board decided Monday to move forward with a plan to repair the Liberty Farm Road bridge rather than install a more-expensive, temporary bridge. The board will meet again Friday to decide which construction firm will be awarded the contract.
The bridge was damaged by flood surges after heavy rainfall and a water release from the Island Pond Dam in Stoddard in July. According to Antrim Fire Chief Marshall Gale, the bridge is scheduled to be replaced in 2026, and options brought before the board were for a prefabricated replacement bridge that would last until then, or a repaving and restoration effort to the existing bridge. The prefabricated option would offer a faster repair, but the $185,000 price tag was nearly double of the restoration estimate of $95,000.
According to Gale, the decision to pursue the slower but more cost-effective restoration was financially responsible. The verdict was made easier, he said, because of an issue with the prefabricated bridge, as the construction company did not have the needed materials readily available. The bridge would not arrive prefabricated because of this shortage, thus Gale said there was no advantage.
The decision to award a contract to a specific firm will likely be driven by availability.
“I believe they got one more quote from another company,” said Gale. “So they’re (the Select Board) going to meet again Friday to go over that quote, and I believe they will make a decision on that day, which I do believe the course of action will be to repair it and then they will decide on which contractor to award the contract to. Which obviously, I think a lot of it’s going to be determined on how quickly the contractor can start the job as well as finish it.”