Work to install a new 87-foot-long, 4-foot-wide bridge over the Mill Brook to connect Irasville to The Valley’s recreation trails is underway.
The bridge project is being managed by Bob Kogut, Mad River Riders, as part of the Mad River Recreation Hub at the Localfolk Smokehouse at the intersection of Routes 17/100. The Riders are managing this project, part of the $406,000 Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative grant which a coalition of local groups received in 2022. That coalition includes the Mad River Valley Recreation District, the Mad River Riders, Friends of the Mad River, the Mad River Chamber of Commerce, and others.
Kogut explained that the bridge project includes several parts, including digging foundation holes for the bridge piers on the wooded side of the bridge. The bridge will span the Mill Brook from the Localfolk Smokehouse field side to the wooded side on the opposite bank, land owned by the Laskowski family.
As part of the permits for the bridge, which are designed to minimize the impact of the structure in the flood plain during high water events, a no-rise analysis was conducted. Kogut explained that that study identified a bridge on skinny posts as the least obtrusive structure for flooding events -- compared to a concrete block foundation which could block water flow.
Today, August 8, Kogut and volunteers will be working with Techno Metal Post contractors from Montpelier installing the screw piles/posts onto which the bridge will be screwed on the woods side of the brook.
Kogut said that he and volunteers are moving bags of concrete to the site today. There will be two piers on that side, both in 6-foot-deep holes, one of which Kogut has already dug.
Organizers had planned to continue work on-site on Saturday, August 10, but the forecast with Hurricane Debby slated to hit Vermont and New England has those plans postponed until Sunday, August 11.
“On Sunday, depending on the weather, we’re going to mix and pour concrete on the woods side to create the two foundation piers that are level with the ground,” Kogut said.
The custom-crafted bowstring truss bridge that will span the brook arrives on a flatbed from South Carolina, delivered by its manufacturers, the Bridge Brothers, on August 28.
“It arrives on a flatbed in two pieces and a crane arrives at the same time. We have to build cribbing and the crane will lift the pieces onto it and we will bolt the halves together to make one long 87-foot bridge,” Kogut said.
“After that is done, the crane will pick up the whole thing and swing it into position while we guide it and set it onto a 5-foot platform on the field side and the concrete pads on the woods side. It will be bolted down. After that we’ll work on the decking,” Kogut said.
Riders volunteers and others will be installing the black locust decking – a new preferred low maintenance wood favored by outdoor recreationalists.
“After that we’ll work on the ramp on the field side which will also be 87-feet long and will curve across the field,” he said.
The bridge is 4 feet wide and adaptive rider compatible, although not officially ADA compliant because that would have required bump-outs for rest areas along the span of the bridge.
The bridge and associated infrastructure cost about $228,000 Kogut said, that includes site work and the parking area.
