NAPLES – The future restoration of the Naples causeway was hailed at the Bay of Naples Bridge project groundbreaking Friday afternoon.
It may have been hard to hear over the rumbling of passing construction vehicles, but various speakers’ sentiments at the ceremony echoed one theme loud and clear: Though there will be impact in the short term, residents, visitors and business owners alike should expect great things once the new downtown renovation is finally completed in summer 2013.
Motorists are well aware that work began three weeks ago on the roadway approaching the bridge from the east. Crews from R.J. Grondin and Sons have been digging rock and blasting ledge in order to install adequate drainage from the intersection of Route 35 along the eastern approach to the bridge.
Traffic is at times down to one-lane with large back-ups, but it’s a sacrifice that will pay dividends in the future, said Bob Neault, chairman of the Causeway Restoration Committee, which was tasked with collaborating with the Maine Department of Transportation by providing local input on the project.
“Over the past 14 months this project has been spearheaded by a committee known variously as the bridge committee, the causeway committee, the causeway restoration committee, and sometimes even the causeway renaissance committee, and that’s my favorite, because that’s truly what we’re talking about: A renaissance, or re-growth, of this causeway and this community,” Neault said while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, which took place overlooking the current bridge with Long Lake as a backdrop.
In addition to the construction-related woes, which project manager Jim Wentworth said will ease for the winter after crews complete the drainage work phase, the other sacrifice that was alluded to at the groundbreaking was the fixed bridge/swinging bridge debate, which ended with the decision to install a fixed structure. While summer traffic has always been affected when the bridge had to open for large boats, the most affected by a fixed bridge is the Songo River Queen II, which will be limited to Long Lake and not its namesake waterway starting in September 2011, when the new bridge construction will force the closure of the existing bridge.
The bridge has been a bone of contention since the early 2000s when it began to show some serious structural wear and tear. At one point several years ago, the bridge got stuck on a busy summer weekend. So, four years ago, local legislators led by Naples Rep. Rich Cebra worked to come up with a way to pay for the bridge reconstruction. Once the Legislature and Maine Department of Transportation bought in to the idea, literally, the project got the green light with community input sought for design of the bridge and causeway.
While Neault looked down the causeway and acknowledged the sacrifice the Songo River Queen’s owners have had to make, the spirit of compromise regarding a fixed span – which costs less than a swinging bridge – was also alluded to by Naples Town Manager Derik Goodine, who said, “So today, we meet here to break ground on more change, not just another evolution in the replacement of the Bay of Naples Bridge … but rather the impetus of years of planning, fighting, disagreeing and compromising, an open discussion between thousands of Naples residents.”
Goodine also looked forward to the project’s completion when downtown Naples’ “charm” will be enhanced with a more pedestrian-friendly downtown and causeway “green space” where walkers can sit on benches and enjoy Long Lake or Brandy Pond.
“One thing that won’t change is the charm that everybody loves,” Goodine said. People will be able to have “extended visits to enjoy the causeway, rather than eat-and-go visits,” he said. He said the new construction of features including a walking path wrapping around the western side of the causeway will “enhance, not destroy, the charm.”
According to Jeff Simpson, construction manager for Simpson & Wyman, the company which is overseeing the entire project and recently completed the Whites Bridge reconstruction on Whites Bridge Road connecting Windham and Standish, traffic back-ups will continue another few weeks until about mid-November, when he said “things should ease up.”
Simpson said his crews and those of R.J. Grondin are working fast before winter sets in on drainage. He said they will then start driving retaining wall piles into Long Lake, creating additional acreage that will extend the causeway into the lake several yards. Once the piles are driven into what Simpson hopes is the sandy bottom of Long Lake (since ledge, he said, is the contractor’s enemy), crushed stone and fine sand will be poured in as backfill, creating new land.
“We’ll be here all winter, mainly driving sheets, and hopefully getting the west abutment started,” Simpson said, referring to the foundation of the Bridgton side of the bridge.
Motorists negotiate the congested area east of the Naples causeway, passing construction workers who are working the next few weeks to improve drainage prior to raising the level of the roadway on the eastern side of the Naples causeway bridge. (Staff photo by John Balentine)Send questions/comments to the editors.
