Project Location: Town of Worcester in Washington County on VT Route 12 over the North Branch of Winooski River.  The Bridge is located approximately 11.2 miles north of the junction of VT Route 12 and US Route 2.

The Worcester Bridge 84 project includes the replacement of the existing rolled beam bridge with a new structure on the exisintg alignment.  The existing bridge was built in 1936 and is 84 feet long.  The bridge has a rail-to-rail width of 20-feet, which does not meet the minimum standards. The structure currently has a deck rating of 4 (Poor), a superstructure rating of 6 (Satisfactory), and a substructure rating of 6 (Satisfactory). 

VTrans evaluated alternatives for rehabilitation or replacement of the bridge in an engineering study completed in June, 2020.  This study assessed the proposed design criteria for the structure, right-of-way, wetland impacts, hydraulics, and archaeological resource impacts. Several alternatives were considered, including: no action, minor rehabilitation, deck replacement, superstructure replacement, and full bridge replacement.  An offsite detour, phased construction, and a temporary bridge were evaluated as potential maintenance of traffic options depending on the alternative.

Given the age of the structure, substrandard width, site constraints and current conditions, the engineering study recommended a full bridge replacement with one lane of alternating traffic maintained during construction.