FNRT Members Perform Bridge Inspections on Rail Trail

Board votes to begin repairs

August 23, 2016 • Saved under Outdoors
Press release
FNRT members Alex Bernhard and Chris Norris (left) of Andover and Chris’ 14-year-old grandson, Ben Norris (right) from New Jersey, had a good six-hour bicycle ride inspecting bridges on the Northern Rail Trail. Photo: Alex Bernhard
FNRT members Alex Bernhard and Chris Norris (left) of Andover and Chris’ 14-year-old grandson, Ben Norris (right) from New Jersey, had a good six-hour bicycle ride inspecting bridges on the Northern Rail Trail. Photo: Alex Bernhard

On August 8, Friends of the Northern Rail Trail (FNRT) members Alex Bernhard and Chris Norris (left) of Andover and Chris’ 14-year-old grandson, Ben Norris (right) from New Jersey, completed a survey of the condition of all the bridges on the Northern Rail Trail in Merrimack County. The inspection took about six hours and was performed on bicycle between Boscawen and Potter Place using an old railroad bridge list as a guide.

The crew chose to rate each bridge with an A, B, or C, with C for the bridges in the worst condition. Six bridges were found to be missing railings to the point where they rated a C.

As a result of this effort, FNRT’s board of directors voted during its August board meeting to begin repair work on three of the bridges to start.