Bids opened for bridge replacement estimated at $34.8 million
The plan to remove the superstructure of the General Sullivan Bridge spanning Little Bay between Newington and Dover and replace it with a pedestrian and cycling pathway alongside the Little Bay Bridges may have suffered a setback when bids for the project were opened last week.
In February, the state Department of Transportation estimated the project to cost $34.8 million in 2021 dollars, but the apparent low bid, submitted by Reed and Reed Inc. of Woolwich, Maine, came to $82,235,768.
In June, the state received $20 million for the project in federal funding distributed through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program.
Speaking for the NHDOT, Richard Arcand said, “The department is reviewing the bids that came in higher than the department’s estimates. More information will be released at a later date when a decision has been reached.”
Anticipating the bidding process, the department put the bridge up for sale in August, but has yet to receive an offer. Arcand explained that bridges replaced in the course of improvement projects are sometimes sold and repurposed.
The General Sullivan Bridge was built in 1934, one of only four bridges — and the last to survive — built to a unique design that was mimicked in later bridge projects. The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in 1984, but remained open to pedestrians and cyclists until 2018 when it was found unsafe.
The future of the bridge arose with the project to improve the heavily traveled 3.5-mile stretch of the Spaulding Turnpike between Exit 1 and the Dover Toll Plaza, which was undertaken between 2010 and 2020.
After finding restoration of General Sullivan Bridge challenging, the state chose to remove the superstructure of the bridge and in its place construct a 1,550-foot-long and 9-foot-wide bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The bridge would consist of two steel girders and a concrete deck mounted on a V-frame atop the existing masonry piers. The project was scheduled to be completed in 2026.
— MICHAEL KITCH
