Previous bridges . There have been several bridges just below
Brunswick Falls, on the Androscoggin river, separating the towns of Topsham and Brunswick, Maine. The Frank J. Wood Bridge opened in 1932 and was the seventh bridge to occupy the location.
Namesake Frank J. Wood was the
proprietor of a farm in Topsham, Maine. Before the bridge was built, he petitioned the state to move the location slightly from where the older bridge was located. He was rewarded for his efforts with the
name of the bridge. Wood died only three years after the opening of the Frank J. Wood Bridge in 1935.
Design on the Frank J. Woods Bridge In 1931, the state of
Maine commissioned
Boston Bridge Works, to construct a new bridge over the Androscoggin River to replace the old Topsham-Brunswick Bridge that was deemed unsafe. The bridge was made from of steel, The Frank J. Wood bridge was built to withstand any future floods that may come its way. However,
The great flood of 1936, encapsulating all of
New England, destroyed part of the bridge, but it was rebuilt and at full operating capacity by September of the same year. In 1944, the rails from the tram line were paved over with
asphalt after the
Maine Central Railroad abandoned the tracks in 1937. In 1972, steel was added to the grid
deck. In 1985, repairs were made to the steel grid deck and loose
bearings, and all
structural steel was repainted.
1985 protest On December 16, 1985, Harry C. Crooker and Sons, a construction company, along with other contractors, staged a protest on the bridge, objecting to the long lines of traffic that often accumulated. At the time, the Brunswick-Topsham Bypass Advisory Committee along with
legislators from the state of Maine were attempting to get a bill passed that would ensure a
U.S. Route 1 bypass, easing congestion on the bridge. The protest consisted of one hundred and thirty
dump trucks and
flatbeds crossing over the bridge in a line that went on for . The U.S. Route 1 bypass was approved for construction and opened to the public on November 11, 1997.
2019–2024 lawsuits on the Frank J. Wood Bridge . On , a
lawsuit was submitted to the
United States District Court for the District of Maine by the Friends of the Frank J. Wood Bridge, the
National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Historic Bridge Foundation. The plaintiffs of the suit asked the court for an
injunction to halt the construction of a new bridge until the state complies with the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1970. Plaintiffs claimed the removal of the bridge would violate the policy act due to the impact on the
fish ladder at the
Brunswick hydroelectric plant adjacent to the bridge. Plaintiffs also claimed in their suit that rehabilitation would be more cost effective than construction of a new bridge, arguing that the state was inaccurate in their cost assessment. On ,
federal judge Lance E. Walker ruled in favor of MaineDOT in regards to replacing the bridge, with an exception to the ruling for the state to reassess their cost estimate for rehabilitation. On the three organizations from the 2019 lawsuit filed an appeal to the initial ruling, citing the bridge's eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places. The appeal was denied on by the
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, citing the state was still responsible for a new assessment for rehabilitating the bridge. On , the U.S. district court ordered the state of Maine to pay in legal fees due to the state not assessing the cost of rehabilitation in the correct manner. In January 2023, the state again concluded that it would be less expensive to build a new bridge and started the process for construction companies to
bid for the job. In January 2024, Judge Lance Walker once again ruled in favor of the state, allowing the construction of the replacement to continue. ==Eligibility for historic status==