At a December 5 meeting, the Warren Select Board continued to deliberate about funding repair work for the covered bridge in the south end of Warren Village.
The town has the option of moving forward with the repairs, which would primarily be concrete work along the bridge’s abutment, but board members are concerned that these repairs will become obsolete if a nearby dam fails, increasing water flow and altering the entire river bed at the site.
Board member Devin Corrigan questioned whether the town should spend federal grant dollars they were previously awarded to do repair work, as the hydraulics of the whole space under the bridge are likely going to change in the next five to 20 years.
In past years, the town has worked with South Burlington-based engineering consultants DuBois and King to provide an estimate for the work. Recently, the firm proposed doing about $26,000 worth of work in order to provide an updated estimate for the project, at which point the select board could decide whether they want to put the project out to bid.
Corrigan asked, since the board does not know what the estimated cost will be, “Do we want to spend $26,000 to take that risk?”
With discussions and debates around repairing the covered bridge extending back about a decade, the town has already undergone the process of receiving estimates for repairing the abutments – the most recent of which came out to $1.2 million and $1.5 million, according to board members.
Corrigan said that the board could choose to either spend the $26,000 in order to decide if they wanted to fund a repair project that will likely cost at least $1 million, or to halt the project and return about $80,000 in federal grant money that the board has spent so far.
But board member Andy Cunningham said that “inaction is another option.” Since the town does not have to repay grant funds for at least another decade, the board agreed to see what happens at the site of the bridge as the dam deteriorates.
