Route 1A Sagamore Bridge to be Replaced

As work progresses to build a new Memorial Bridge and the Maine and New Hampshire departments of transportation move ahead with plans to replace the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, city residents will see another span replaced.

The Route 1A Sagamore bridge is slated for removal and replacement beginning in 2013 and when that project gets underway, city Public Works Department officials say motorists will have to seek alternative routes.

On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, the Public Works Department will hold an informational meeting to give city residents a chance to learn more about what the Sagamore bridge project will entail.

Tom Richter of the city's Public Works Department, wrote in an e-mail the 71-year-old bridge was closed for a short period in May 2010 for $217,000 worth of temporary repairs and also had been repaired in 1984.

He wrote that current plans call for the project to be put out to bid in late spring next year with work anticipated to begin in summer 2013. Construction of a replacement bridge could take as long as a year.