The public gave input May 1 on the state’s planned repairs to the Southport swing bridge. About 60 residents, including a number of town officials and abutters, turned out at Southport Town Hall to ask Maine Department of Transportation their questions and voice their opinions.

The swing bridge connecting Southport to Boothbay Harbor was built in 1939. This was not easy because the sections had to be floated in by barge with careful calculations of the tides and many other technical points. The bridge received mechanical rehabilitation in 1988, then constructional repairs and re-painting in 2014.  Now it needs electrical, mechanical and structural repairs to sustain it for about 30 more years. As the last thru truss swing span bridge left in the state, it qualifies for the National Register of Historic Places. So it’s considered worth the cost of repair.

Repairing a constantly moving bridge is the challenge.

MDOT project manager Leanne Timberlake introduced VHB design consultants Bob Blunt and Ben Pomeroy who recently spent three days making detailed inspections before the preliminary design work begins. Blunt explained there are three spans involved, the two approach spans, one that measures 100 feet long and the other 86 feet long on either side of the swing span. The swing span measures 178 feet long by 22 feet curb-to-curb.  A detour-free plan for vehicular traffic, such as a one-way signalized passage, is needed. And limited channel closures would be unavoidable.

Plans call for the preliminary design report to be completed by January 2020; a formal public meeting in March 2020; and advertising for a contractor in March 2022.

Despite curiosity about how the repairs would be conducted, many comments were more about safety on the bridge than repairs. The common theme was to somehow slow traffic down. 

Days after the design inspection, a mating pair of osprey arrived to their usual nesting spot atop the swing span and found their nest had been removed to allow for closer analysis of the structure. The nest’s removal dismayed some Southport residents who regularly monitor the nesting year after year. 

The osprey built another and are now nestled comfortably in it and appear here to stay, like the bridge.