Bridge replacement work starts in Windham

By Ed Pierce

After a lengthy delay, a 26-foot steel girder bridge on William Knight Road over the Pleasant River is being replaced.

Bridge replacement work has started on Varney's Bridge
on William Knight Road in Windham. The $2.2 million
project will create a new new bridge with $1.5 million
in funding from MaineDOT and the remainder on a 
bond authorized by Windham voters in 2023. The bridge
is expected to be completed by Oct. 12.
PHOTO BY  MELISSA CARTER 

While making repairs on Varney’s Bridge in 2015, engineers from the Maine Department of Transportation recommended that the town explore options for closing or replacing the bridge because of ongoing structural deterioration.

Size, complexity and increasing age were key factors in making the decision to replace the steel girder bridge. MaineDOT engineers reported that capacity issues and faster and heavier loads stressed this type of bridge past its original design parameters. Typically, steel girder bridges can be more expensive than other types of bridges because of the rising cost of materials and for construction and this type of bridge may not be suitable for very heavy loads and may not be able to support the weight of heavy vehicles.

Windham Town Engineer Mark Arienti said MaineDOT engineers found issues with the bridge’s concrete abutments and reduced the allowable load to three tons. That made it not possible for construction trucks, dump trucks, garbage trucks, and other large vehicles to cross the bridge because of the weight limitation.

“For example, when the town plows, it has to stop at the bridge, turn around, and then go the other way,” Arienti said.

Right now, there are concrete abutments that support the current bridge, which is a steel structure and scouring from the river has caused erosion where the concrete makes contact with the water. There has also been rusting on the steel supports which need to be replaced. The bridge has lasted quite a long time, but Arienti said it has aged because of erosion and corrosion of the concrete foundation and abutments and needed to be replaced.

Because Varney’s Bridge had been upgraded and repaired numerous times over the past three decades and its structural issues persisted and continued to worsen, members of the Windham Town Council in 2021 determined that replacing the existing bridge to be the most cost-effective method to ensure the safety of the community upon the recommendation of the town manager.

In June 2021, Windham residents approved spending $25,000 for a study at the Annual Town Meeting about how to best move forward to replace the aging structure. That study was completed in the summer of 2022, and the results were forwarded to the MaineDOT.

Using the MDOT Bridge Program Design Guide, a preliminary design report was created, and mandated that any other survey work needed to define right-of-way and bridge layout and alignment be performed and any geotechnical engineering evaluations required to design a new bridge support structure be initiated.

When the new MDOT Three-Year Plan for upcoming projects to be undertaken by the state was released in January 2023, some $1.5 million in funding from the MaineDOT was authorized for a $2.2 million project with the town picking up the remaining $700,000 for the project.

Under the direction of Arienti, Windham then developed preliminary and final design plans in accordance with standards in the latest editions of MaineDOT’s Bridge Design Guide and followed Standard Specifications and Standard Details requirements. Those design plans included a specific plan for the project, a bridge profile including cross-sections, and geometry for approach design.

The plan also featured design computations, load ratings, and evaluation information for the new structure meeting MaineDOT specifications. That included development of an engineering estimate of construction costs and creating a final plan for review by the state.

During Windham’s Annual Town Meeting on June 17, 2023, a warrant item was approved by voters to contribute $700,000 to complete the bridge replacement project. 

A public meeting was subsequently held to obtain community feedback about the project, and the town set about coordinating the project with utilities in the area. That was followed by MaineDOT and the town preparing a set of Design Plan Impacts listing all design features, topographical details and impacts associated with the project.

MaineDOT also conducted and documented quality control design checks and provided engineering support during the competitive bidding process and any other additional services as was requested by the town.

Windham Town Councilors put the project out to bidding in November 2025 and awarded the project to Wyman & Simpson, Inc. for the town’s portion of costs in general obligation bond funding for replacing Varney’s Bridge. Seven bids were submitted to replace the bridge, which was originally built in 1950.

Work started on the existing bridge demolition and replacement on June 15 and could take up to 120 days to complete.

The reconstruction work requires a full road closure on William Knight Road and local detours have been put in place for traffic and emergency vehicles for the duration of the bridge replacement. The project is expected to be completed by Oct. 13, 2026. <

WRMS construction running smoothly and under budget

By Ed Pierce

Significant progress has been made on the construction of the new Windham Raymond Middle School on Windham Center Road, including moving the horse barn on the property for future use as an outdoor classroom.

Construction on the new Windham Raymond Middle School
is on schedule and remains about $16 million under budget,
according to RSU 14 Superintendent of Schools Christopher
Howell. Steel building framework and enclosed student
stairwells are going up and work to move an existing
horse barn at the site has been completed.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE

Christopher Howell, RSU 14 Superintendent of Schools, says that construction costs for the school have remained constant and the project continues to be on schedule for a planned opening of September 2027. The new school will be a free-standing multi-story building with more than 260,000 gross square feet of new construction for learning space, an auditorium, gymnasium, and dining facilities.

Howell said that the new school will use a team-teaching concept where students will be divided into 12 teams to provide personal connection and then broken up into smaller instructional teams. It will incorporate Integrative Project Based Learning through team teaching, a method of instruction where a group of teachers work together to plan, conduct, and evaluate learning activities for the same group of students and the school’s design takes all of that into account with the team areas of the building allowing for a science teacher, math teacher, social studies teacher, and an English teacher to be in the same teaming area.

Classrooms will be on the new school’s upper floors and will not have any outside stairs or hallways, with administration and guidance offices housed on the ground level. The school grounds also feature a protected wetland area that students will cross by an aluminum boardwalk for outdoor learning opportunities and a school garden. The cooling and heating system will be designed for long-term cost savings and adaptability for the future. State-of-the-art drainage will protect the site’s surrounding environment and a 600-seat performing arts auditorium will be built as part of the new school.

“It’s just been an amazing process to watch and see the large precision of this process,” Howell said. “We are $16 million under the original budget and expect things to remain that way.”

Back in November 2023, a plurality of voters in the school district, which encompasses Windham and Raymond, approved a referendum to build the new school with about 77 percent of construction costs paid by the Maine Department of Education’s Major Capital Construction Program. The total project budget including fees, soft costs, contingencies, furnishings, and equipment is estimated at about $171.5 million, with the state funding $131.7 million and residents paying the remaining $39.8 million.

The original Windham Middle School opened in 1977 and was intended for a capacity of 483 students. That number has grown in the past years to 650 students and some sixth graders being housed for classes at the adjacent Field Allen School, which was built in 1949. Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond opened in 1962.

“The new school will open with a little more than 1,000 students, and has a capacity for 1,200 students, so there’s some room built in taking future growth into account,” Howell said. “Kids in Grade 3 to 6 right now will be the first to use the new school.”

The school site will also include the creation of three new athletic fields and an existing soccer field near Windham Center Road.

Once open, the new Windham Raymond Middle School will provide instruction for students currently attending Windham Middle School, Jordan-Small Middle School and fifth graders at Manchester School in Windham. The current Windham Middle School and Jordan-Small Middle School will be closed and turned over to their respective municipalities for repurposing.

RSU 14 first applied for the Maine Department of Education’s Major Capital Construction Program in 2016 for funding for construction and was ranked as the fifth-highest priority among 74 proposed school construction projects statewide each year before eventually gaining approval in March 2021. Once a district applies for funding, Maine Department of Education reviews and rates the projects based upon need. The State Board of Education then funds as many projects from the list as available debt limit funds allow. Working with the State Board of Education, Maine DOE establishes both size and financial limits on projects.

Local school districts may exceed these limits at local expense through municipal bonds, but the state bears the major financial burden of capital costs for approved school construction projects. As such, Maine DOE first looks at the possibility of renovations or renovations with additions and new school construction projects are only considered in instances in which renovation projects are not economically or educationally feasible, which was the case with Windham Middle School and Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond.

Construction at the site is being led by Shaw Brothers and Landry French.

Because of the steady construction progress to date, Howell said he believes by next August 50 to 60 percent of the school construction will be completed.

“It’s a once in a career thing to do and watch this process all the way through,” Howell said. “Everything we planned on paper is coming to fruition and it’s so exciting.” <