SENATOR COLLINS ANNOUNCES RICHMOND-DRESDEN BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT TO RECEIVE $10.8 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDING

             U.S. Senator Susan Collins, the senior Republican on the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, today announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation will award $10.8 million in grant funding to help replace the Richmond-Dresden Bridge. This competitive grant funding is provided through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, program.               “I was truly alarmed to see firsthand the deteriorated condition of the Richmond-Dresden Bridge when I recently visited,” said Senator Collins who toured the bridge on December 2nd along with State DOT Commissioner Dave Bernhardt and local officials. “It is an understatement to say that the time has come to replace and modernize this 80-year old bridge which is a critically important transportation link in this area. When I spoke to Secretary LaHood and urged his department to give full consideration to the application, I stressed that this will be a true partnership at the local, state, and the federal levels.”               The Maine Department of Transportation lists replacement of the Richmond-Dresden Bridge, which carries traffic over Route 197, as one of its top infrastructure priorities. The total cost of the bridge replacement is estimated to be $24.9 million. This TIGER funding, along with existing federal funds, will pay for about 50-percent of the project’s cost, with the State of Maine covering the other half. The state estimates a new bridge could be in place by December 2015.