BELLOWS FALLS — Rockingham Development Director Francis “Dutch” Walsh testified on Jan. 23 before the New Hampshire House Public Works and Highways Committee on a bill introduced to the New Hampshire Legislature by Rep. John Cloutier, D-Claremont.
The bill, HB1205, would put reconstruction of the Vilas Bridge that links Bellows Falls and North Walpole, N.H. back into the New Hampshire 10-year transportation improvement plan.
The bill would further require New Hampshire “to pay 50 percent of the cost of such reconstruction or rehabilitation if the state of Vermont, any political subdivision of the state of Vermont, or any private source” agrees to pay the other half.
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) had removed the bridge from the plan due to the agency's project funding priorities.
But Committee Chairman David Campbell, D-Nashua, told The Commons that without a proposal for the bridge reconstruction in writing, there is little that the committee can act upon before Feb. 8, when the bill is due out of committee.
Campbell said state Commissioner of Transportation Christopher Clement and Vermont Secretary of Transportation Brian Searles need to come up with a proposal for bridge reconstruction that they can agree upon and put it in writing - and he does not see how that could happen in the short time frame.
He said that Cloutier and Clement “are well aware of what's going on in Vermont, but New Hampshire has its priorities, and [the Vilas Bridge] is not in our current 10-year transportation plan.”
However, Campbell emphasized, “We are still willing to look at this if some kind of proposal can be put forth that is acceptable to [NHDOT] and, ultimately, the House and Senate.”
“Then we could consider it, but we can't make judgments until that happens and they reach some kind of agreement,” Campbell said.
According to Chris Cole, director of policy, planning and intermodal development for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, the two commissioners spoke within the last several weeks.
Cole added that the Vermont AOT is also “aware of the offer from New Hampshire for Vermont to pay for 50 percent of the cost of the Vilas Bridge.”
But, he said, “Vermont is not in a position to assume New Hampshire's legal financial responsibilities with respect to Connecticut River bridges.”
If - however unlikely - the legislation moves out of the Public Works and Highway Committee with a written plan from the two commissioners and gets through both the New Hampshire House and Senate, the Vilas Bridge will once again appear on the 10-year plan.
'Overall positive'
Walsh said he joined members of Cheshire County's legislative delegation who are co-sponsoring the bill and a NHDOT employee in speaking to the committee. He said he answered questions for several hours.
Walsh said he felt it was an “overall positive” response.
He said the committee was not aware that a sewer line runs beneath the bridge between Walpole and Bellows Falls to the wastewater treatment plant in the village.
Walsh informed the committee that “the cost of the relocation of this line will be substantial should the line need to be relocated.”
He also reminded the committee that the commercial development growth that is happening along the Route 12 corridor in Walpole “would not be possible without the wastewater line running along the commercial district” there that is connected to the line beneath Vilas Bridge. The Bellows Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant has processed the waste for Walpole and North Walpole since 1989.
Walsh went on to explain inherent problems to using the “viable alternative” of the Arch Bridge for emergency responders.
He told the committee that the Vermont Rail System and New England Central Railroad were both “increas[ing] the number and size of freight trains” and they currently run an average of “75-car or longer freight trains moving at less than 50 feet per minute” and must use the “at grade” railroad crossing on Route 12 in North Walpole, during which time access is blocked until the trains have passed through.
With standard freight cars at least 50 feet long, that means the Arch Bridge can be blocked for more than an hour at a time.
A Vermont loan?
According to Cole, when the commissioners from the two states talked, another possibility emerged.
Searles made an offer on behalf of Vermont to assist New Hampshire with the state's bridge obligations, under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two states.
He also offered to “have New Hampshire repay the loan from Vermont by paying our share for other Connecticut River bridge rehabilitation or replacement projects until New Hampshire's share of the Vilas Bridge was repaid,” Cole added.
That was the concept, Cole said, but “obviously details need to be worked out, such as length of time for the loan repayment and others.”
Campbell said that this option could be negotiated through the end of the legislative session in June as part of the legislation to approve the 10-year plan as a whole. That bill, HB2014, is also making its way through the Public Works and Highways Committee.