The Veterans bridge closure happened Sept. 22, one day after the Queen City Bridge closure in Manchester, N.H. Both closures followed NHDOT routine biannual bridge inspections. The westbound bridge lane will be closed for four to six weeks, officials say.

The eastbound Taylor Falls Bridge and westbound Veterans Memorial twin bridges carry about 37,000 vehicles daily on Rt. 111 across the Merrimack River, linking Nashua and Hudson across the Merrimack River. The twin bridges built in 1972 and 1970 respectively are jointly owned and maintained by Hudson and Nashua.

Wright-Pierce engineering firm has completed the design for a $38,000 repair of a 30 in crack in an I-beam about 150 ft from a Hudson side abutment on the Hudson-Nashua Veterans Memorial Bridge.
Photo courtesy of the Town of Hudson, N.H.

The town is also in discussions about the scope of work for the repair and mobilization with the contractor, E.D. Swett, a Concord, N.H.-based employee-owned bridge construction company and general contractor. The town expects to be under contract with E.D. Swett by Oct. 2, Dhima says.

The crack was found just as the more than $3-million Hudson-Nashua Bridge deck rehabilitation project is wrapping up, Dhima says. The rehab project, set for completion in December, has repaired the deck, lights and rails for the twin bridges.

“The job is basically a steel plate repair [of the cracked I-beam],” using a plate that is 6 ft-long by 3 ft 3 in wide and Dhima says. “The plate will be installed on both side of the I- beam. The plate is much wider than the typical 12 in to 18 in length typically used to connect two I-beams because “the crack is a weird shape—not a straight 90-degree angle,” he says.

The plate will need additional length to amply cover both sides of the crack.

While the focus now is on the beams and bearings to repair the crack, Dhima says there are four additional beams that extend into Nashua. “It was a pleasant surprise to learn the state is going to put us on a NHDOT Ten Year Plan for transportation improvements and help us [with the additional work] since this is a significant bridge for Southern, N.H.,” Dhima says.

The bridges' prior 2016 to 2026 state transportation plan helped with work on the deck rehabilitation. Under the Ten Year plan, the state will cover 80% of additional costs while Hudson secures a 10% match for the project, Dhima says. “We’re going to start working on the contract once we deal with this [crack] repair,” Dhima says. “NHDOT is already planning for $2.4 million for phase two of bridge rehabilitation, and we expect a letter from the state stating the project, name and number, sometime later this week or next week,” Dhima says.

NH DOT did not respond to an ENR inquiry regarding the 10-year plan.

Plans for repairing a 30-in-long crack on a girder found on the Hudson, N.H. side of the Hudson- Veterans Memorial Bridge are underway. The work to repair the crack will require three weeks in the field and about six workers.
Photo courtesy of the Town of Hudson, N.H.

The cause of the crack is currently unknown, Dhima says. “The 56-year-old bridge has a life-expectancy of 74 to 100 years but is showing some wear and tear.”

“We’ve been riding the wave,” Dhima says. “Everything is great and then we hit the 50-year mark and folks say because you haven’t dealt with the bridge in the past 50 years, will you fix the bridge?”

Dhima says the town was fortunate with the last round of repairs for the deck, lights and rails. “The state picked up most of the tab and Hudson and Nashua only had to cover about 10% each,” he says.

With the deck repairs nearly complete, the town is now planning to rehabilitate the I-beams below the new deck, Dhima says. “It just happened that between then and now, a crack showed up,” he says. “The crack is paying off.”