Depot Street Bridge Project Update

Here’s hoping that your 2025 is off to a good start!

Did you have a chance to read Betsy Thurston’s November blog post?  It profiled Justus Hunting Beale, the surveyor who played an important role in the development of Bellows Falls in the early 20th century.  If you missed it, you can read it here.  It’s a great story.

Here in the 21st century, though, things have gotten complicated.

Unexpected Events, Unexpected Expenditures

Last summer’s extreme storm events and flooding forced the Vermont Agency of Transportation to redirect its focus overnight in order to replace damaged and destroyed culverts, roadways, and bridges.  That work is still ongoing, and it has meant delaying planned construction projects and reallocating people and resources to address immediate needs.

In addition, as citizens and as property owners, we’re all pretty aware of the pressure on Vermont state budgets these days.

Where does this leave our project to replace the Depot Street Bridge and revitalize Canal Street and the Bellows Falls Island?

A Delay in Project Start-Up

You may recall that our four-year project to replace the 100-year-old Depot Street Bridge over the Bellows Falls Canal was to begin in Summer 2026 with the undergrounding of electrical utilities along Canal Street.  That would pave the way for constructing a new Depot Street Bridge at the top of Canal Street in 2027, building a new pedestrian bridge over the canal and restoring Canal Street and the Island in 2028, and then removing the existing Depot Street Bridge in 2029.

Because of these budget pressures, the entire project has now been moved out three years.

Later this summer, we plan to move forward with right-of-way discussions with the 17 property owners whose buildings will be impacted by the project.  That work got underway this past year with electrical inspections conducted by Lawrence & Lober Electric.  Undergrounding of electrical utilities, though, will not now begin until Summer 2029, with construction wrapping up in 2032.

That seems a long way off!  VTrans will continue to monitor the safety of the Depot Street Bridge.  And we will continue our series of blog posts on the history of Bellows Falls and, of course, keep you up to date on progress with our project.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns about what you’ve just read, please do get in touch!

Jim Gish, Depot Street Bridge Project Community Liaison, jgish@vhb.com

Betsy Thurston, Executive Director of the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance and Rockingham Development Assistant, developmentassist@rockbf.org