Peterborough expects to receive a formal plan for extracting the fallen drill rig on the Main Street Bridge construction site by early next week, Assistant Town Administrator Seth MacLean said Wednesday.
“The extraction of a 90-ton drill rig is a complicated endeavor, made more so by the many site and safety considerations that require careful attention to detail and rigorous review,” he said. Those considerations include space constraints on the job site, road closures, an engineering review to ensure the road can safely support heavy extraction machinery, collaborating with utility companies like Eversource, and notifying the public.
The town has already received approval from NH DOT to detour Route 202, MacLean said. There is no equipment on site yet to deal with the drill rig. The specifics of what kind of machinery, or how many different machines will be needed to extract the rig will be in the plan the contractor submits, he said. The town expects to receive it by the end of this week or early next week, he said. “From there, the project team will be meeting to discuss next steps and begin coordinated efforts to ensure proper safety measures are in place and that adequate public notification has been made,” he said.