LEBANON — While a decision to close a bridge over a railroad spur in West Lebanon came suddenly this week, concerns about the integrity of the bridge along a critical artery for Upper Valley traffic date back decades.

The so-called “dry bridge” just south of the intersection of South Main Street and State Route 12A at the base of Seminary Hill was shuttered at 9 a.m. Thursday morning after the city announced the emergency closure on Wednesday afternoon. The decision has impacted commuters, businesses, schools and others traveling to and from the region’s primary shopping destination.

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation inspects the bridge annually. In the results of an October inspection, “there were some changes (...) that gave us some concern,” prompting the follow-up analysis, City Engineer Brian Vincent said Thursday.

Results of the analysis of the bridge’s carrying capacity came back to the city Wednesday, Vincent said. The bridge was deemed unsafe for travel and will remain closed while it is temporarily reinforced.

There is currently no expected timeline for the work, Vincent said.

“It’s in poor condition, I don’t think it’s salvageable at this point,” he said.

To make temporary repairs, Vincent said engineers plan to add “redundant support to elements that were compromised over time due to age and deterioration.”

The state’s inspection report describes several components of the bridge as “poor,” “substandard” and “intolerable,” and mentions “cracked, potholed and heavily rutted pavement,” cracks in concrete reinforcements, rusted components and “section loss.”

So now, rather than crossing the 145-foot bridge over railroad tracks owned by the state of New Hampshire, roughly 10,000 vehicles a day now have to take a detour.

The recommended route for southbound traffic is a 4.5-mile loop up Seminary Hill and Miracle Mile to Interstate 89, where travelers can back track to Route 12A via Exit 20 northbound in West Lebanon.

Already this week, many residents are choosing a detour to the detour — a route over Seminary Hill to Glen Road, which has its own choke point, a one-lane rail underpass.

Allyson Weiner-Sawyer, owner of the Pink Alligator and the Dance Collective in Glen Road Plaza, said there “100 percent” had been more traffic coming off of Glen Road onto Route 12A Thursday and Friday. The Pink Alligator storefront looks out onto the intersection.

Margaret Reeves, an employee at Un-Dun’ on South Main Street in West Lebanon, said she had already heard more car horns than usual Thursday morning as commuters tried to navigate the detour through a blinking traffic light on the first day of the closure.

While Reeves said she does not cross over the bridge during her daily commute, she regularly goes from Main Street to the businesses on Route 12A to do her grocery shopping and other errands.

“It’s gonna suck,” Reeves said of the detour. “I’ll do it, but I’m not gonna like it.”

‘A failure of government’

While Thursday’s closure was unexpected, the 76-year-old bridge has long been a concern to the city, state and residents.

The bridge was first flagged as problematic by state inspectors in 1998 and added to the state’s “red list,” meaning it is in need of repair and is inspected more frequently.

The bridge is owned by the State of New Hampshire but maintained by the city.

This means that the planned replacement must be approved by both entities and the federal government, which administers part of the funding.

The replacement is expected to be primarily funded by state and federal funds.

Over the last 25 years, there have been several attempts to repair the bridge, while multiple long-term fixes have been delayed or taken back to the drawing board because of disagreements over necessity, cost and changing requirements.

In 2009, the Valley News reported that the city and the state had been working on repairs for nine years with a proposed project at an estimated cost of $5.6 million.

In 2010, the city seized a residential parcel near the bridge through eminent domain to prepare for a replacement project scheduled for the next year. In response to the seizure, property owner Terry Rousseau had her home that was built by her parents in 1956 moved across town to a property on Dulac Street in 2011, according to reporting from the Valley News at the time.

Rousseau died in 2021, without seeing the bridge project that necessitated her family home’s move completed, according to an obituary posted by Ricker Funeral Homes & Crematory.

The current plan, to build a new bridge and an access road into the Westboro Rail Yard which the city is also trying to purchase and revitalize, was put together in 2017 or 2018, Vincent said.

In the DOT’s 10-year plan set last summer, the total project cost is reportedly over $16 million. The current timeline from the city has construction beginning this summer and finishing in October 2026.

As the replacement project has dragged on, wear-and-tear to the bridge continued, leading to several temporary delays and traffic disruptions over the years.

When asked what has led to the 27-year delay, City Manager Shaun Mulholland said “bureaucracy,” adding that the process is extensive with “three levels of government involved,” the cost-sharing element creates issues and every time the work is delayed or kicked back to the city there are new rules to follow and changes that must be made.

“It’s like a cycle, a very inefficient process and it does not work in the best interest of the taxpayers,” Mulholland said. It’s “a failure of government to provide critical services to its people.”

Life disrupted

In addition to commuters and shoppers, emergency services, Advance Transit and the Lebanon School District are impacted by the closure.

Fire Chief James Wheatley said there will “definitely” be delayed response times to incidents in West Lebanon.

The West Lebanon fire station is just down the road from the closed bridge. Instead of taking the public detour, Wheatley said the Department has gotten permission from Twin State Sand and Gravel company to cross its property from Elm Street West to Glen Road, creating a slightly shorter route to minimize the delay.

Advance Transit also has stopped service to two bus stops in West Lebanon while the bridge is closed; Romano Circle and Glen Road Plaza on the red and Saturday blue-red lines.

During the disruption, riders have been directed to board buses at Target Plaza or Shaw’s Plaza instead, according to a Wednesday announcement from AT.

Luis Belloso regularly commutes via Advance Transit from the Target Plaza in West Lebanon. He would typically take the bus across the closed bridge to the Kilton Library bus stop before transferring to get home to Hartford Village, he said Friday. Now, because of the bus route changes, his daily commute is nearly an hour longer.

For the school district, bus service at Romano Circle was also adjusted. Students who live on South Main Street must walk to Romano Circle to meet the school bus in the morning.

Nine elementary students and five students at Lebanon middle and high schools are impacted by the change, Superintendent Amy Allen said Thursday. The students also need to meet the bus 10 minutes earlier and parents have been warned to expect drop off 10 to 15 minutes later in the afternoon because of traffic.

The afternoon delay has also affected after school activities, such as classes at the nearby Dance Collective in Glen Road Plaza. Owner Weiner-Sawyer said Friday that “people were freaking out” about the changes on the first day of the closure.

“People are coming right from school, so they’re running super late” for their afternoon classes, Weiner-Sawyer said.

On the other side of the bridge down South Main Street, West Lebanon Feed and Supply has tried to proactively respond to the changes and any disruptions to customer traffic.

“There’s definitely some concern, because that’s one of our main arteries” for customer traffic, Marketing Manager Briana Paronto said Friday.

While Paronto said that it’s still “too early to say” how much the business will be affected by the closure, “we hope that our loyal customers will make that extra detour.”

The business has been emphasizing to customers that they are “still here” despite the construction through social media and the store’s website. They’re emphasizing that they have outdoor and overnight pickup if customers want to get there and avoid delays.

“We knew the bridge work was coming at some point, but it’s definitely sooner than anticipated,” Paronto said. “It’s very unfortunate and hopefully the city expedites things.”

Clare Shanahan can be reached at cshanahan@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.

CORRECTION: The property owned by Terry Rousseau was seized by the City of Lebanon in 2010 and moved in 2011. A previous version of this story was incorrect about when the property was seized.