The city’s administration is hoping to keep the Maine Turnpike Authority from closing the Stroudwater Street Bridge while it undergoes repairs, after plans for the project drew criticism Monday night.
The City Council’s Highways Committee voted, 4-0, to ask the city’s administration to work with the Turnpike Authority to seek alternatives to closing the bridge while it was under construction. One possible alternative would be to leave one lane of traffic open across the bridge, as the Turnpike Authority has done for other bridge repair projects.
“Repairing the bridge is a great idea. Closing it is the wrong idea,” said Council President Jim Violette.
Violette said he believed closing the bridge would divert commuting traffic onto other routes in a city already overburdened with traffic congestion. He pointed specifically to Spring Street as one road that can’t absorb any more commuting traffic.
“My personal feeling is you’re going to cause chaos on Spring Street,” said Violette.
It was unclear Monday night whether the Turnpike Authority would be likely to change its plans. The Authority had planned to put the project out to bid this month. However, Conrad Welzel, a representative of the Turnpike Authority at the meeting Monday, said the agency might delay going out to bid to consider some of the concerns raised at the meeting.
One Westbrook resident, John Searles, criticized the Turnpike Authority for failing to involve citizens who will be affected by the project in its planning. Searles owns Town & Country Motors, a business located a short distance from the bridge on Stroudwater Street.
“We really should have been notified sooner,” he said.
Another resident, Jim Garland, criticized the administration for holding the public hearing so close to the time the Authority planned to go out to bid on the project. He chided the administration for failing to notify the public of the project earlier, saying Mayor Bruce Chuluda had promised to do a better job of communicating with the public than the city’s previous mayor had.
“As a voter, that is clearly unacceptable,” said Garland.
Chuluda responded that the city had no authority over the Turnpike Authority. He said the purpose of the meeting Monday night was to communicate with citizens and said he would consult with the city’s legal counsel to see what options the city had.
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