Town Closes Entire Teague Drive Bridge Due to Sink Hole

Residents of three Salem roads will no longer be able to get home using the Teague Drive bridge, after the town decided today to close the deteriorating structure.

According to Town Manager Keith Hickey, the aging culvert has been reduced to one lane since December 2011.

The bridge is made up of a corrugated metal pipe. The material is no longer supported for use when constructing Salem bridges.

Salem's engineering department has monitored the bridge several times a year since the 2011 lane closure. Earlier this week, they found a sinkhole on the side that motorists were using.

"(We) contacted the state of New Hampshire to take a look at what was found and to corroborate with the engineering department – that the bridge, the corrugated pipe had deteriorated to the point where it necessitates the entire bridge being closed," said Hickey.

He said the state came down this morning and concurred that the bridge should be closed completely. According to Hickey, that action was taken sometime after 12 p.m. today.

"We have sign packages out there to let people know what's going on. "We're in the process of sending letters to everybody on Teague Drive, Parker Circle and Pawtucket Lane."

Hickey said that construction of a new bridge will cost between $700,000 and $800,000. No engineering design has been completed for a new bridge.

The town's goal now is to fast track a replacement, bringing a proposal to the Board of Selectmen to withdraw upwards of $60,000 to $70,000 from the Capital Reserve Fund to allow for engineering to take place this fall.

The board will have a couple of choices.

Option one will be to go through the state aid bridge program, which Hickey said would cost between $100,000 and $120,000 because there are a number of different requirements that the state has with the bidding process.

The town would get 80 percent of that cost reimbursed by the state.

"We'd get the lion's share of the money back," said Hickey.

He said the project could get delayed until 2015 if the town were to go through the State Aid Bridge program.

If the town chooses not to go through the State Aid Bridge program, the cost estimated would be between $50,000 and $70,000. The project, if approved by voters on the March 2014 ballot, could take place during the 2014 construction season with an estimated completion by the time school begins the following fall.

This year, the town is working to reconstruct bridges on Bluff Street and Providence Hill Road at a cost of $1,630,417.

According to the 10-year road plan, the goal is to replace two bridges each year from 2013 to 2015.

Plans are to replace bridges on Town Farm Road and Shannon Road in 2014, with the initial plan having been to replace the Teague Drive culvert and Bluff Street Extension bridge in 2015.

Hickey said that Teague Drive bridge is the only one that required a lane closure.

The Shannon Road bridge is on the red list, while the Town Farm Road bridge has issues with the opening under the bridge, which is undersized and causes the road to flood in cases of severe or heavy sustained rain.