The Winooski River Bridge is due for a complete renovation. A federal grant might help.

From the crumbling sidewalk to the narrow lanes that offer no safe space for bikes, the 93-year-old Winooski River Bridge is nearing the end of its useful life.

Bridges are expensive, however, and Burlington and Winooski, the joint owners of the bridge, will need federal money to rebuild the bridge in the near future. This year, the cities, with the help of the Vermont Agency of Transportation, applied for a highly competitive grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation. They hope to receive $24.8 million for the estimated $31 million project.

Burlington, Winooski and the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission have been talking about replacing the bridge for several years. The Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission came out with a scoping study in 2019 after two years of research into the condition of the bridge, the best, least-disruptive ways to build a new bridge and gathering input from public meetings. VTrans used the study extensively in the application for the grant.

While John Rauscher, Winooski director of public works, wants to assure people that the bridge will not fall apart under their feet, the bridge is showing signs of "serious deterioration" according to the grant application, especially on its top surface where pedestrians and cars cross.

"That sort of ramped us up to look at the entire bridge and say, 'alright, is this bridge really meeting the needs of the community using it?'" Rauscher said. "If we're looking at the bridge stack, let's look at the whole structure."

Previous reportingA walk-friendly Winooski bridge is in the works

More than 500 pedestrians and cyclists cross the bridge every day in the warm months, despite the narrow sidewalk and absence of bike lanes, according to the grant application. Rebuilding the bridge would give the cities an opportunity to add a greatly-desired bike and pedestrian path on either side of the bridge which would be protected by walls. The vehicle lanes would also be widened by a half a foot each, reducing the likelihood of sideswipes.

The new bridge would be built on either side of the current bridge and slid into place when the old bridge is demolished. Traffic would be closed on the bridge for about six weeks. Last time the bridge was replaced, between 1927 and 1928, there was a floating bridge that allowed Burlington and Winooski residents to cross the river, but no such plan has been introduced this time around.

Cross Vermont Trail AssociationBridge across the Winooski River adds another vital link to Vermont's rail-trail network

Grant recipients will be announced in August. If Burlington and Winooski receives the grant, the cities hope to start concept design in 2023, begin construction in 2027 and finish the bridge in 2030. Rauscher is hopeful about getting the grant but doesn't want to get his hopes up too high.

"It's such a competitive grant, I really can't say how likely it is we'd get it, but I think the grant application was put together really well and hopefully we're competitive with other applications," Rauscher said.

Contact Urban Change Reporter Lilly St. Angelo at lstangelo@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @lilly_st_ang

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Burlington, Winooski apply for federal grant to build new bridge