Maine Senator urges Milton: Put funding on fast track

Maine State Senator Ron Collins

Maine Senator Ron Collins on Monday applauded Milton selectmen’s resolve to speedily remove the New Bridge Road bridge substructure, but also exhorted them to move forward just as resolutely with securing Milton funding for its portion of a bridge replacement.

Collins, R-Wells, represents District 2, which includes the York County towns of Acton, Berwick, Cornish, Lebanon, Limerick, Newfield, North Berwick, Parsonsfield, Shapleigh, and Wells.

“I thought it was very productive,” he told The Lebanon Voice of last Thursday’s meeting. “They made preliminary plans and they’ve stated goals in a common cause between two towns.”

The New Bridge Road bridge formerly spanned the channel between Northeast and Milton ponds and connected the towns of Lebanon and Milton before it was condemned and removed last fall.

Collins, a longtime member of the State Transportation Committee and its Senate Chair in the last Legislature, said Milton should act quickly because if the next election were to produce a new governor and transportation commissioner, funding options might not be as favorable. Collins said he might not have as much clout if a Democrat were to win the governor’s chair.

“Right now I think Maine is ready, willing and able but will the (DOT) commissioner and (Governor) LePage still be in place?” he wondered. “That could have a bearing on funding. I don’t know.”

Under the current bridge funding formula, Maine would pay half of the bridge replacement costs, then New Hampshire and Milton would share the other half, using an 80 percent-20 percent split, respectively. 

Bridge engineering costs have been estimated at $150,000, meaning Milton would have to come up with 20 percent of $75,000, which would be $15,000 to get the bridge replacement ball rolling. 

A completed two-lane truss bridge is estimated to cost about $1.4 million, putting Milton’s full outlay at around, $140,000 if they decided to go ahead with the plan.

Nancy Mayville of New Hampshire DOT has said if Milton were to pay the $15,000 with assurances it was on board to pays its full share of the replacement bridge cost, that could get the span on the state’s Bridge Replacement list, meaning it could be built as early as 2018. 

Milton Selectmen Chair Tom Gray has pledged to put some form of funding for the project on the ballot next year, but selectmen haven't decided on an amount yet.

“It’s up to Milton now. It’s time for them to pony up,” said Collins.