NH DOT Inspection Of Hinsdale's Rt 119 Bridge

Update July 17, 2013

I did a lot of invaluable reporting on my bridges in 2013. Go mike!!!

Ordinally posted on 3/25/2013@ 5:08pm 




$$$ It is grossly obscene and utterly gross engineering negligence, let alone the state is prematurely wearing out and damaging state tax payer monies by the utterly negligent maintenance practices of not rolling these bridges through a sand blasting and repainting job. 

All the damage I see on  these bridges comes from such a poor New Hampshire DOT maintenance schedule...   

So when was the bridge last painted. Did you paint the top last, left the bottom nakedly unpainted as it was getting massively sprinkled with salt during our winters...

It is the same as negligently not installing a set of the required nuts and bolts...or the engineer's orders of installing the right placement and numbers of Titanic era rivets. $$$  

March 29: I find it amazing they used all different size components for each bridge...they must have measured the width across each river from potential footing to footing...then they sent for the properly sized bridge parts to the site.

I want a small, medium and large bridge....like the size of your shoes...I need 8 and a 11 1/2 size Pennsylvania truss bridge?

No doubt it came up on the railroads and propelled by a steam locomotive...

Heading over to the route 9 Chesterfield Connecticut river bridge with my measuring tape, pad pencil and my camera...
March 28: "The Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge connects Brattleboro to Hinsdale Island, which is connected to Hinsdale by the Charles Dana Bridge."

I bet you they got the name mixed up on the bridges? The Brattleboro side bridge is much bigger than the Hinsdale bridge...it doesn't  fit the typical size of a female versus male. They got the names reversed?

So I asked the MHDOT boss why is the Brattleboro bridge was so mushy...the Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge...he went off saying it is as mushy as the new route 9 bridge on the Connecticut River in Chesterfield. 

The "so called" Anna bridge is from footing to footing, about 333 feet long. The Charles bridge is a piddling 309 feet long from footing to footing. Anna's huge circular top trust beams are two feet wide while Charles is only a little 22 inches.      

Charles chicken boy has a stone or concrete island 33 feet from his bridge footings on both sides...the longest stretch of unsupported bridge to the ground is 234 feet.  Courageous Anna doesn't have any stone and concrete supports between her footings...her longest stretch of unsupported bridge is the full 333 feet long. 

Anna's circular truss arch, that is way above the highway, is much higher and steeper than Charles... 

Anna is much bigger and has a much larger unsupported span of highway than her bridge partner Charles...

I hope the engineer got their number right on the Anna bridge, with her huge length of unsupported to ground or river bottom spans...footing to footing?  

Why no "person on the street" comments captured in a Reformer newspaper story about the Hinsdale/ Brattleboro bridge, more throwing kisses at speeding women in cars and what makes a good state.

So I will be meeting and will put on a presentation this up coming Monday at 7 PM at the Town Hall...the bridge commission and the southeast planning counsel will be speaking the following week. 

From: "WilliamButynski@aol.com"
To: steamshovel2002@yahoo.com
Cc: williambutynski@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: Route 119 Hinsdale/ Brattleboro Bridge

Mike,

Thanks for the additional email below. I believe that you have also already been in touch with J. B. Mack directly. J.B. told me that he contacted NHDOT's Chief Engineer & was told that the bridge inspection team looked only at the NH bridge that directly enters Brattleboro, whereas an inspection for the second bridge on the Hinsdale side has been scheduled for sometime in the next few weeks. The Chief Engineer apparently told J.B.that the inspection team is still writing their report on the first bridge, but they will not be recommending that it be redlisted, although "a few minor repairs" are planned for sometime in the next few weeks. That is good in the sense that they believe it is completely safe, but it is bad in that not being redlisted means that NHDOT apparently does not believe that it needs to be replaced soon. NHDOT has a list of 100+ bridges in NH that are redlisted.

On Monday there is a meeting in Concord that I need to attend on the overall State Budget. However, assuming that meeting does not go beyond 5:30 PM, I will try to make it back to Hinsdale in time to sit in on your meeting with the Select Board members at 7:00 PM. Also, I agree that Hinsdale is not a priority for NHDOT or most others in Concord. The reason for that is that we have a comparatively small population & thus do not have nearly as many State Reps as many other areas of the state that are much more heavily populated. Any invitation to NHDOT to attend Monday's meeting should probably be initiated by the Hinsdale Select Board, although it may be best for you to talk with the Select Board first, & invite NHDOT to a subsequent meeting.

Thanks again for your emails & work on the bridge to monitor its condition & to keep folks who travel on the bridge safe & informed about its problems.

Bill B.

March 28, 2013: I have nothign but respect for Rep Butynski and the Southeast Regional Planning Board...these guys are the professional arm of getting the bridge replaced and really caring about economic development. I really respect Rep Butynski of Hinsdale.

I am just the bottom half circus entertainer trying to get the  message out.

So the Reformer tried to downplay my NHDOT whistleblower claims notified us all about the upcoming bridge inspection.  You get it, the reformer doesn't need proof about anything they say. So how did the reformer become aware of the bridge inspection and where was it publicly disclosed. This is all insider NHDOT and Brattleboro reformer crap. The establishment around here plays insider ball with the Reformer staff so their take on the world get reported above the bottom half.

 I intentionally spent a lot of time explaining my predicament to the boss of the jobsite  on Monday morning...I knew who he was before he even came to the site. I was feeding NHDOT information though him on intention. I suspect when they went on early break, I told him to tell his boss a nosy guy was taking pictures of the site...the guy who was protesting with signs for the last two years. That guy on his so called early morning coffee break in their trucks, he immediately called his boss with the Mike Mulligan news. I told him to do this! I'll bet you they talked it over in region Swanzey office, kicked it around with the main office in Concord...that is when they came up with the plan to notify Brattleboro  reformer office. I bet you my youngest son that is how the reformer ended up getting taken.

So the reformer was notified well before Monday that a inspection was being planned...the Reformer planned for it and scheduled to get the pictures taken Monday on their own. How come it wasn't in Tuesday's paper...it took till Wednesday morning to for the story to get into the paper. It was delayed  till Wednesday because the reformer got notified mid morning after I told the site boss he better immediately report Mike Mulligan to his boss was taking pictures of his crew.  That is the route the reformer was notified and they weren't prepared for getting the story on their own with prior notification. This is all establishment insider special communications with the reformer that excludes the bottom half.     

Remember how tiny the Brattleboro Reformer is as a news outlet...no wonder why their circulation is so poor. They don't how to talk to the bottom class! The staff at the Reformer is nothing but the third string of the gigantic news corp that owns the Reformer.... probably outcast from the bigger newspapers. Happy news and don't rock the tourist boat incorporated. 

So they are reputational and establishment centric...not the the middle class centric. This giant corporation doesn't represent the poor, weak and the hungrey well. 

At the end of the day, why wasn't the picture at the top of my blog not in the Brattleboro Reformer...let the NHDOT explain why this is safe. I get it, it will upset the little people of the bottom half...the idiots wouldn't understand it... 

Everyone is in pajamas and already asleep...the Brattleboro Reformer!


I am disappointed with everyone...the NHDOT and the Brattleboro Reformer.

I protested to replace this bridge for two years...for months on end during the fall. This entry gets you where I documented my adventures with throwing kisses at passing by pretty women, throwing perfect military solutes at as many as I could  and blessed all the tractor trailer truck drivers if the bridge collapse while they in the middle of it. They knew no matter what sins they committed they were still going to heaven.

Minor deterioration showing on bridge  between Brattleboro, Hinsdale

Wednesday March 27, 2013

HINSDALE, N.H. -- The state's Department of Transportation on Monday was performing inspections on two bridges connecting the town with Vermont that many hope will be replaced by one brand-new structure.

Steve Johnson, NHDOT's assistant administrator for bridge maintenance, said the Anna Hunt Marsh and Charles Dana bridges on Route 119 show some minor deterioration the department wants to take care of, but no major problems. New Hampshire, Vermont and two separate regional planning commissions have been pushing for a proposed Route 119 replacement bridge that would span the Connecticut River, starting near the stop light at the old Walmart location and landing near the Merrill Gas Company tank farm in Brattleboro, Vt.

One of those planning commissions, the Southwest Region Planning Commission, is putting the bridges on a priority list it will submit to the NHDOT this April. The state agency will then review the lists of regional projects and decide which should go into the state's 10-year transportation improvement plan.

JB Mack, the principal planner for the Keene-based SWRPC, told the Reformer a report was put together following a site visit in September to highlight any remaining questions in regards to improving the bi-state project's readiness for the 10-year planning process. He said within the next few weeks, officials from both towns are expected to come together to discuss the SWRPC's report and how to find answers to the remaining questions, which include economic development.

He said in September he believes the price of the project will run between $37 and $38 million, though New Hampshire would not be responsible for the whole cost.

Mack said the two Pennsylvania truss bridges in use today were built in 1920 and are now considered "functionally obsolete." He said, based on federal highway standards, they are too narrow and have insufficient weight limits and vertical clearances. The Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge connects Brattleboro to Hinsdale Island, which is connected to Hinsdale by the Charles Dana Bridge.

"Wide loads, tall loads and heavy loads can't use the bridges," Mack said. "By all accounts, they are still considered safe bridges -- but they have limitations."

He said the bridges' decks were repaired in 1988, "but that's just one part of the bridge."

Mack said there were "no surprises" during the inspections. He mentioned the previous inspections took place in September 2011.

NHDOT Project Manager Donald Lyford told the Reformer no plans have changed since the site visit in September and those involved are now waiting on funding from the federal level. He said the project is not in New Hampshire's 10-year plan because there is no money available.

Mike Darcy, the chairman of the Hinsdale Board of Selectmen, said Tuesday the project is vital to the towns on both sides of the river.

"The towns of Hinsdale and Brattleboro share a lot more than we often admit. People work on either side of the river," he said, mentioning that his wife works for C&S Wholesale Grocers in Brattleboro. "It's a community -- even though we are separated by a river."

He went on to say countless people utilize the bridges, as Hinsdale residents use them to get to stores such as Price Chopper and Hannaford and Brattleboro locals travel to Hinsdale to shop at the Walmart Supercenter.

He said a new bridge could result in an economic

(Zachary P. Stephens/Brattleboro Reformer) boom and might help clear up the traffic in the Brattleboro intersection known as "Malfunction Junction." He said the legislative delegates from Hinsdale and Walpole are expected to attend a Selectmen's meeting on Monday, April 8, to further discuss this issue.

"This is a multi-year project. We're not going to see a new bridge tomorrow even if we get the funding today," he said. "It's a long road to travel, but it's the one we're on."

Domenic Poli can be reached at
dpoli@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311

Copyright 2012 Brattleboro Reformer. All rights reserved.

A Plea To President Obama For A New Bridge. 

Originally Published on 9/9/12 on my blog

In 2009 Time magazine published on Barack Obama that included the distinctive subphrase about history: “bends toward justice.” Obama credited the words to King:




But as I learned in the shadow of an empty steel plant more than two decades ago, while you can’t necessarily bend history to your will, you can do your part to see that, in the words of Dr. King, it “bends toward justice.” So I hope that you will stand up and do what you can to serve your community, shape our history and enrich both your own life and the lives of others across this country. On March 25, 1965, having completed the third march to Montgomery, the city that gave birth to the civil rights movement, Dr. King spoke these words on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol: Dr. King spoke these words on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol:

"I know you are asking today, "How long will it take?"....

"I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth crushed to earth will rise again.

"How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever.

"How long? Not long, because you shall reap what you sow....

"How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

You see the difference between little Obama's "that you can't necessarily bend history to your will" and basically MLK commands the arc of history to bend to his will. The more they beat his people and put him in jail, the more sure MLK became he was going to irrevocably change our nation.

Oct 17:
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park

The park is named after Roosevelt's Jan. 6, 1941, State of the Union address, known as the Four Freedoms Speech. Given before America got involved in World War II, Roosevelt said the way to justify the enormous sacrifice of war was to create a world centered on four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech and expression; freedom of worship; freedom from want; and freedom from fear. The words were later incorporated into the charter of the United Nations, which Roosevelt helped create.

***March 25, 2013 approximately 8:30 am***

NH DOT bridge inspection team today at the Hinsdale NH route 119 bridge. I got a tip yesterday these guys were inspecting the bridge today.

I was told the NH DOT scheduled last year a full contractor professional bridge inspection team for our bridge. The insider NHDOT whistleblowers told they canceled the expensive professional inspection team based on not enough NH DOT money...they quickly came up with a regular NH DOT team. There was no civil engineers on this team and they weren't by camera or paperwork immediately documenting the results. This kind of inspection, not the outside professional bridge inspection, which has been scheduled for a few years back with highly educated civil engineers effectively puts this bridge at the back of the list mostly based on politics and favoritism...

They told me the North-Hinsdale side of  the huge trust where it bolts into the concrete footing iron work embedded into the cement was unsafe. It already failed the inspection and was quickly going to need emergency repair work. It is the beginning of major bridge structural components failing on this 1920 bridge.

Here is the NH DOT trucks

The whole NH DOT crew...















Some of the hard working bridge inspectors discussing the job.



Over the side they go!














And temp steel walkway...heading towards Brat...



Basically we are looking at the west footing...the concrete is wasting away and massive/deep concrete spalling. You see the fraudulent job they did last time....they put a thin coating of cement over the terrible deteriorated and deeply spalled concrete to make you think good about the cheap job.

Like I said earlier, around this huge bolt that hold the huge main trust to the concrete footing. This is the area with the failed inspection and in emergency need of repair. We'd be lucky if we don't get a severe weight restriction.

Bums sleep under this bridge...















If you got the guts, keep clicking on the picture for increasing the magnification and detail. This nut area on the north-hinsdale side trust failed the bridge inspection according to the NH DOT whistleblower.



























(Fall 2012) The bridge underneath looks like this diabetic's rotting legs and bridge's rotting railings and beams...



The iron is de-laminating...failing off in heavy rust and iron layers. The white substance seen all over the place is pure road salt residue. I collected about two pounds of rust and the delaminated iron flakes right under this dangerous bolt and connection.The picture really doesn't do justice with seeing how deep the missing corroded iron is.

The bolt or nut is about the size of car hubcap. The bridge inspectors told me the north trust was worst than the south trust. This area failed today's inspection. This is cira 1900 era iron technology...we have no idea what level the strength and ductility of this medal has...how dangerously brittle the metal was even when it was just made.

The below is unbelievably dangerous to the people who cross this bridge and unbelievably dangerous to the economic's of our community if they have to shutdown the bridge because crossing it would be too dangerous.

The area gives you a little sample of the condition of the concrete. We can only see mostly the river side of the Hinsdale's concrete. The condition of the concrete are atrocious. We are talking about 93 years of alkali–silica reaction...a reaction causes the aggregate to swell.