Memorial Bridge Contractor Donates for Lights

Wanting to give something back to the community, Archer Western Contractors decided that building the new $81.9 million Memorial Bridge was not enough so they donated $50,000 that will make it possible to light up the entire span.

Ben Porter, a member of the Memorial Bridge Illumination Subcommittee that had raised more than $150,000 in pledges, read a letter from Steve Delgrosso, the senior project manager for Archer Western Contractors where they pledged $50,000.

The news was met with a round of applause during the press conference that was held on the waterfront deck at One Harbour Place that overlooks the new Memorial Bridge. Delgrosso said that he and his regional manager decided to approach Archer Western Contractors' parent company, the Walsh Group in Chicago, to make the donation and they agreed.

When Archer Western Contractors crews first started working on the new Memorial Bridge project in 2011, Delgrosso said "we had no idea of the level of interest that would go into the bridge."

Delgrosso said he has worked on many bridge projects in the Greater Boston area where most people just walked around the construction sites and show little or no interest. In Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine, Delgrosso said the contractor found it was a completely different story.

Delgrosso recalled that he had never seen people "sing to a bridge" before. He said the contractor's decision to donate the $50,000 to help the community illuminate its new bridge with multi-colored, energy efficient LED lights was the perfect way for them to do something for the community.

"I look forwar to seeing the bridge light up in multiple colors," he said.

Delgrosso said Archer Western Contractors has done other things like this to support the communities where it has done transportation projects, but Tuesday marked the first time the contractor had ever donated money to illuminate a bridge it had worked on.

Delgrosso said that one of Archer Western Contractors' subcontractors, E.S. Boulos of Westbrook, Maine, would install the LED lighting prior to the new bridge's completion, which is slated to happen in July.

Portsmouth City Manager John Bohenko, who continues to work on a joint maintenance agreement with the Town of Kittery, Maine, to take care of the new bridge lights, said he was very pleased about the donation.

"It's really very positive and we are grateful we will get it to the $200,000 mark," Bohenko said.

New Hampshire Department of Transportation Commissioner Chris Clement said he was also pleased that Archer Western Contractors chose to support the bridge lighting project. "It's the way this project has been. It's the epitome of a real public/private partnership," he said.

Clement said Archer Western Contractors crews continue to work hard to make sure every detail of the new bridge is perfect. "Everything they do they are taking great pride in," he said.

He believes the new Memorial Bridge will attract people from all over New England and the country. In some ways, Clement said the new Memorial Bridge could rival the Leonard P. Zakim Bridge in Boston because people will be able to walk across it and stand in the bumpouts and admire its beauty. People can only drive across the Zakim bridge, he said.

Clement also said that Archer Western Contractors may have "just set the bar higher" when it comes to how companies do business here in New Hampshire. He said it is possible their donation could inspire other companies that are working on other state transportation projects to do similar things to support communities.

Clement also said the community effort to illuminate the Memorial Bridge also says a lot about Seacoast and southern Maine residents who never looked at the new span as just another transportation project. He said it was their will that made sure the new bridge was not just a connector between Maine and New Hampshire, but a work or art that will serve as an important icon for many years to come.