For more than a year, Simpson Road, connecting Route 112 to the Salmon Falls area of Buxton, has been closed to through traffic. Saco farm businesses, commuters and health care providers must drive almost seven extra miles to downtown Saco and other turnpike corridor locations. Essential services have been provided by the Town of Buxton. Postal service has been reduced to a group mailbox accessible only by walking across the barricaded bridge. Also, residents on the Route 112 end drive farther to reach Buxton locations. All small inconveniences, but added together, they add time and expense to living here.
The search for a palatable solution to repairing, restoring or replacing Stackpole Bridge has gone on in earnest since 2007. This year, we will vote on a $990,000 bond package that is probably the most affordable option the city has ever had. The bond package consists of two loans: a low interest loan from the state for half the eventual cost is an offer we should not pass up. A “yes” vote also allows the council to borrow the matching funds at market rate, if they so choose. Compared to the costs of bike/pedestrian bridges that have been built recently, replacing or restoring a 166-year-old bridge on a public road with more than 80 residences (in Saco and Buxton) for less than a million dollars seems a very fair price to taxpayers.
If the bond passes, requests for bids will go out for both replacement and rehabilitation, putting a historic preservation of this National Register-eligible structure on a fair and even footing when bids are considered by the council. Either way, Saco taxpayers will get a long-lasting solution to an infrastructure problem for a reasonable price.
Sue and Steve Littlefield and Sarah and Ryan Littlefield, Saco
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