Meeting Date:
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Maine DOT have completed a Limited Scope Section 4(f) Re-Evaluation for the Frank J. Wood Bridge Project (WIN# 22603.00). The project consists of replacement of the Frank J. Wood Bridge (#2016) on a curved upstream alignment. The bridge carries US Route 201 over the Androscoggin River between Brunswick and Topsham, Maine.
The scope of the Re-Evaluation is limited to conducting an analysis directed by a United States District Court Order. On March 2, 2022, the U.S District Court for the District of Maine ordered FHWA to conduct "further administrative proceedings consistent with the opinion of the Court of Appeals, i.e.: 'for the strictly limited purpose of allowing the agency to further justify use of the service-life analysis and/or to decide whether a 53% price differential represents a cost of an extraordinary magnitude under 23 C.F.R. 774.17." Historic Bridge Found. V. Buttigieg, No. 2:19-cv-408 (D. Me. Mar. 2, 2022) (quoting Historic Bridge Found. v. Buttigieg, 22 F.4th 275, 286 (1st Cir. 2022)).
The Section 4(f) Re-Evaluation finds that the 53% difference in 2019 Life Cycle Costs between replacement and rehabilitation alternatives is a cost of extraordinary magnitude in the context of the Project at issue. This Re-Evaluation also finds that as a result of the cost of extraordinary magnitude the rehabilitation alternatives are not prudent and feasible.
Interested parties may review the document at https://www.maine.gov/mdot/env/frankjwood/ .