Two-Way Travel Resumes on the Route 28/Suncook River Bridge

Dateline: Dec. 22, 2022

On Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 21, a phone conversation with Paul Metcalf, NH DOT District Construction Engineer, revealed some great news about the Route 28 bridge over the Suncook River.

IT IS OPEN AGAIN!

Northbound View

Southbound View

On Wednesday morning, travelers might have noticed that the traffic lights and many of the traffic cones had been removed and instead flaggers were directing traffic across the one open southbound lane.

By 4 p.m. the northbound lane was opened for traveling north and the southbound lane was back to conveying southbound traffic. Concrete barriers are to stay along the center line of the bridge. Why you might ask? Well the new northbound lane is slightly higher in the middle of the span than the old southbound lane. In addition there is a gap between the new span and the old span. Two rows of barriers were installed as a safety precaution. Mr. Metcalf stated that a full 12 foot right of way is available on each side, so there should be no problem plowing snow. Additional small tasks remain to be done.

Notice that there are large sand barrels on each end of the concrete barriers just in case. Also the sign boards are still flashing a 40 mph speed limit so please slow down a bit as you cross the bridge.

Last week you may have noticed that they were working on the ramps on either end of the bridge deck. The large equipment and flexible ductwork were installed after the final concrete was poured to keep the concrete warm as it was curing. It's bad form you know to let concrete freeze before it's cured.

Earlier this week, the northbound span was paved with asphalt, shiny new guard rails were installed, and the white side stripe was painted. The end of construction was coming soon.

It arrived on December 21st, as Evroks Corp. and its 15 subcontractors completed the work necessary to allow the new span to be opened for travel.

In the original project description (see the Allenstown Alt story, Rebuilding the Route 28 Bridge - Apr. 11, 2022 ), the completion date for Phase #1A was October 28, 2022, but here we are two months beyond that date. Mr. Metcalf explained that they were plagued by material shortages, delivery delays, and labor shortages. You may have noticed over the past few months that, on some days, there were no workers on site.

The final holdup was caused by the fact that the expansion joints for each end of the bridge had been on back order. The delayed delivery of this material has caused construction delays on this and other DOT bridge projects this year.

The expansion joints are a critical part of every bridge. They look like a metal plates across the road with a hard rubber membrane in the middle. They provide a small gap so that the bridge can expand and contract slightly without causing damage to the bridge deck.

What You Can Do

Enjoy once again the ability to travel over the bridge without having to sit in long lines waiting your turn for a green light. Hopefully the NH DOT is working to make sure they have all the equipment and materials on hand when they start work on the other half of the bridge. Phase 2 (the southbound lane) is scheduled to start in April 2023 with completion in October 2023.