Work is beginning on the replacement of two Interstate 91 bridges over Route 5, near White River Junction. But transportation officials say new technology and building methods will limit disruption to motorists.
Over the next six months, the two new bridges will be pre-fabricated in staging areas beside the aging bridges in the north and south bound lanes. There will be some traffic delays starting this week as workers install sensors, video cameras and electronic message boards to update motorists on progress and detours. Next week, a lane will be closed on Route 5 to create the work zone.
But Transportation Secretary Sue Minter says it will only take two summer weekends to actually slide the replacement bridges into place.
“And what’s so important is we are actually doing things in a shorter time period, really reducing the inconvenience for the traveling public, but we’re making investments and innovating investments that are going to last the next hundred years,” Minter said.
This is one of six bridge projects in southern Vermont that are essentially re-building parts of I-91.
“It was built 50 years ago; some of the bridges are coming to the end of their life and either need major rehabilitation or total reconstruction,” Minter said.
The construction innovations on the latest project, in the Upper Valley, have led to an increase in the federal share to 95 percent of the $11 million price tag. Minter says looming budget cuts in the state transportation budget do not threaten this bridge replacement.
The Agency of Transportation is hosting a public information meeting at the Bugbee Senior Center in White River Junction on Tuesday, April 7.
