A small bridge in Concord’s southeast corner has been rebuilt and reopened, just in time to be the detour route as another bridge is rebuilt nearby.
A 16-foot-long span over Bela Brook on the Hooksett Turnpike was closed to traffic from January to May while it was rebuilt. A similar bridge nearby carrying Birchdale Road over Bela Brook is now being shut for repairs that should last until November. Hooksett Turnpike is part of the detour for that work.
The two are among Concord’s “red-listed” bridges, those in need of serious repair. They will get 80% of their roughly $1.125 million cost covered by the state’s Bridge Aid Program, with the rest from city funds.
About 125 bridges are on on the state’s red list.
The bridges were both built in the mid-1920’s. They are being replaced with slightly larger bridges that have wider shoulders for pedestrian traffic and, in the case of Hooksett Turnpike, snowmobile traffic in winter, and can handle more water flow underneath them.
With climate change increasing the strength of rainstorms in the Northeast, more flooding events are likely.
The contractor is E.D. Swett Inc. of Concord.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
