MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury and Weybridge leaders have hired a team to size up a new sidewalk that would connect Middlebury and Weybridge across the historic Pulp Mill Bridge.
It was last year that contractors completed a more than $3.3 million renovation of the Pulp Mill Bridge, one of the few double-laned covered spans still in use in the country. Now that the bridge is fixed, town officials on both sides of the Otter Creek want to put in a sidewalk connecting Middlebury’s Seymour Street to the narrow pedestrian bridge (adjacent to the Pulp Mill span) and then along Pulp Mill Bridge Road to Weybridge Street. Otter View Park on Weybridge Street has become an increasingly popular draw.
Weybridge and Middlebury have landed a $20,000 state grant (requiring a $5,000 local match) to scope out the project. Each town will kick in $2,500. That task will be performed by the team of Phelps Engineering and Waitsfield-based Community Development Services. The team plans to complete its report before the end of the year, collecting neighborhood feedback along the way.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].