The future of a vehicular bridge that spans the Megunticook River on Mt. Battie Street in Camden is up for discussion Sept. 8 at a regularly scheduled Select Board meeting, with some citizens suggesting that it become pedestrian-only. The Maine Dept. of Transportation has told Camden it would replace the vehicular bridge with state funding, but is waiting for the Town to decide if it wants to build solely a footbridge before launching design work.

In a premeeting memo to the Select Board, Delegated Town Manager Jodi Hanson detailed the current options with  Mt. Battie Street, a short length of municipally owned road that runs parallel to Route 105 between the intersection of Pleasant Ridge and Gould streets.

The DOT has included the bridge improvement project in its 2026-2028 Work Plan, with a $500,000 state-funded preliminary engineering price tag. On a 1-5 DOT priority scale, Mt Battie Street bridge replacement is ranked with other rural and small town roads at Highway Corridor Priority 5, and the DOT has been planning to advertise the job work in 2029.

HCP byways in Maine, according to the DOT's classification, are, "local roads and streets and are the year-round responsibility of our municipal partners," the DOT states. "Though they carry just 13 percent of the statewide traffic, these 14,446 miles make up 61 percent of the total miles."

But Camden resident Paul Cartwright has approached the town with a proposal to do away with the vehicular bridge and in its place, build a single-span pedestrian bridge.

"Replacing this vehicular bridge with a pedestrian bridge would be a great improvement to the neighborhood," said Cartwright, in a letter sent last May to Town Manager Audra Caler. "While vehicular traffic is extremely low, foot traffic is high, particularly to and from the adjacent Seabright Park. The local residents we interviewed were enthusiastic about a foot bridge."

He cited the Rawson Avenue Bridge, just down the road at the end of Tannery Park, and which is now a pedestrian-only footbridge after the demolition of the former vehicular bridge there. Concerned about infrastructure safety, DOT had closed the 1935-built bridge to traffic in 2019, and constructed a new footbridge in its place in 2025, with costs split 50-50 between the town and the state.

"Like the recent nearby Rawson Avenue bridge project, a footbridge here would have very little impact on vehicular traffic numbers," Cartwright said. "For vehicle trips of residents and businesses along Mt. Battie Street, as well as those passing through the neighborhood, the increase in trip time would be negligible. There is good space on both sides of the river for snow plows to turn around."

And, he said, a footbridge instead of a vehicular bridge, "would compliment the adjacent public riverside trail," and, "align with the goal of restoring the river corridor to its natural state."

In his proposal, he estimated a new vehicular bridge would cost between $1.5 million to $3 million while a pedestrian-only bridge would cost between $250,000 to $600,000.

He suggested a prefabricated weathering steel arched truss footbridge, 80 feet in length, five to six feet wide, and decked with pressure-treated timber or fiber-reinforced polymer. 

Cartwright also suggested 42-inch tall railings, and abutments be built from material repurposed from existing culverts.

Delegated Town Manager Hanson explained to the Select Board in an August 2 memo that the bridge expense, no matter pedestrian or vehicular, will be borne by the DOT. She told the Select Board in her memo that Cartwright's estimated costs had not been vetted by the DOT, but the DOT has visited the site after reviewing Cartwright's proposal.

"While MDOT has indicated that a pedestrian bridge would likely cost substantially less than a vehicular bridge, those savings would accrue to the state-funded project and would not represent a direct financial savings to the Town of Camden," wrote Hanson.

"MDOT has also clarified that its funding would cover the vehicular portion of the replacement bridge as currently contemplated. If the Town requested additional accommodations or enhancements beyond the basic vehicular bridge—such as the addition of a dedicated sidewalk—those additional improvements would be at an additional cost to the Town."

Hanson presented two options: Move forward with a vehicular bridge or request that the DOT evaluate a pedestrian-only bridge.

"This alternative would permanently discontinue vehicular access across the Megunticook River at this location while maintaining pedestrian connectivity and potentially providing a stronger connection to the existing trail network and recreational uses along the river," she wrote.

In other town business: The Select Board will review four bids submitted for the sewer upgrade project on John Street. Bids were opened September 1, and price tags ranged from $1.4 million to $2 million.

The original estimated construction cost for the John Street Sewer Project was approximately $1.9 million, according to Hanson.

"Based on the competitive bids received, staff's review of the submitted bid documents, and the Town's previous successful experience working with Eastwood Construction, staff recommends awarding the John Street Sewer Project to Eastwood Construction in the amount of $1,238,460," suggested Hanson.

The Select Board will also review plans by Mid-Coast Solid Waste Corporation, which serves the towns of Camden, Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport, to raise the price on disposal yellow bags to $4 each, effective Sept. 22. The 30-gallon bags will be sold in packs of five for $20 each. The 13-gallon bags will sell for $2.75 per bag and be available in packs of 10 at $27.50 per pack.

MCSW has attributed the price increase to rising disposal, transportation, and labor costs. And, the new rate for weighed trash is $270 per ton