THETFORD, Vt. (WCAX) – A closed Upper Valley bridge that divided the tight-knit communities of Lyme and Thetford for 18 months has now reopened again.
The lunch crowd was livelier than usual on Friday at Stella’s Italian Kitchen & Cafe in Lyme. Old friends getting back together for $1 slices to celebrate a reopened bridge.
“It’s a community, it is. It’s an extended community,” said Donald Hodgdon of Theford.
At noon, the roadblocks were removed and traffic once again started to flow between Lyme and Thetford. The red-listed bridge was closed in the spring of 2023 for structural and cosmetic repairs.
“They kept the bridge the same. The historical factor is good and nice and it’s never looked so good,” Hodgdon said.
The two towns are just minutes apart but the closure detoured traffic more than 15 miles.
“I don’t see my grandchildren as much,” said Melinda Meyerhoff, who lives in Norwich but has family in Lyme. “I’ve been more worried about the businesses and Thetford Academy and the people who have to run a business that people aren’t getting to.”
Businesses like Huggetts Mart, a convenience store in Thetford. They offered free coffee and snacks to celebrate the reopening. Brandi Ash lives in Lyme and works in Thetford. She filled up her car right as the bridge reopened. “It used to take me five minutes, now it takes me almost 30,” she said. “Now I can cross over and go back to the Lyme Country Store, my favorite place for breakfast. Yeah, get home faster.”
Others, like Peter Webster of Lyme, have taken the closure in stride. “I lived in Texas where you drive like 800 miles one-way trip,” he said.
Though he is thankful the cars and bicycles are once again rolling back and forth. “For some people, it was very very hard, so the bridge is a miracle come true.”
Not only are they thankful that the bridge is back open, they are also thankful for the work done by the construction crews, ensuring that the bridge will be here for generations to come.