For a Year, the Shortest Way From West Lebanon to Route 12A Is on Foot
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
On August 26, a Valley News photographer caught the last span of a temporary footbridge still waiting to be lifted over the railroad tracks in West Lebanon. An Engineers Construction, Inc. worker was installing safety fence on the footbridge. Three weeks later, at 7 a.m. on Monday, September 14, the city closed the Route 12A "dry bridge" beside it. This time the closure runs about a year.
That leaves West Lebanon with an unusual map this fall. South Main Street and the Route 12A plazas sit a footbridge apart for anyone walking. For anyone driving, they are a highway loop apart. The village side has also just finished a rebuilt Main Street, so the end of the walk looks very different from what it was last year.
The dry bridge gets its name because it crosses railroad tracks, not a river. The 145-foot span carried about 10,000 vehicles a day before it closed. Here is how each kind of trip works now.
| Getting from South Main Street to the 12A plazas | Route during the closure | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Walking | Temporary footbridge next to the closed span | Basically nothing, since the crossing point stays the same |
| Cycling | Same footbridge, and the city asks riders to dismount and walk | A short push across the tracks |
| Driving | Seminary Hill to I-89, then Exit 20 or Exit 19 | A detour of about four miles that uses the interstate |
| Advance Transit | Red Route through City Hall and over I-89 | Four stops near the bridge have no service |
Walking and cycling still cross at the same spot. Driving and the bus now both go around by way of the interstate.
The footbridge leads back toward a Main Street that has been torn up since June 30, 2025, when construction on the city's revitalization project began. Valley News reported that phase one covered paving, drainage, curbs, crosswalks, sidewalks, decorative lighting, and landscaping, at an estimated cost of about $4 million. City taxpayers were expected to pay about $1.6 million of that, with outside funding covering the rest. A city construction notice also called for a brick patio in front of Kilton Library and new signs along the corridor.
The city held a celebration the day before the bridge closed. On Sunday, September 13, the City of Lebanon and the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission hosted a free block party in the Kilton Library parking lot at 80 Main Street. The afternoon included a Main Street ribbon-cutting, food, and lawn games, with parking at the Mascoma Bank lot.
Side streets are still being finished. The city's October 9 update says Blaktop starts paving these streets the week of October 12, weather permitting:
The city expects paving to finish the week of October 19, 2026. Valley News first projected the project would run until June 2026, so the side streets are finishing about four months behind that estimate. The same 2025 report described a possible second phase extending through Bridge Street at an estimated $3 million more, if it goes ahead.
The timing works in drivers' favor, too. Valley News pointed out that with Main Street work nearly done, commuters won't face Main Street construction on top of the bridge detour. Work on I-89 was still expected to continue into the fall.
The posted detour runs in both directions:
Drivers have used this route before. When the bridge closed with less than 24 hours' notice in March 2025, the same detour stayed in place for about a month. Valley News reported at the time that many drivers took "a detour to the detour," going over Seminary Hill to Glen Road, which has its own choke point at a one-lane rail underpass.
Businesses where that shortcut comes out noticed it right away. Allyson Weiner-Sawyer, owner of the Pink Alligator and the Dance Collective in Glen Road Plaza, told Valley News there was "100 percent" more traffic coming off Glen Road onto Route 12A. The Pink Alligator storefront faces that intersection. On the village side, West Lebanon Feed and Supply on South Main Street told Valley News it was reminding customers it was "still here" and pointing them to its outdoor and overnight pickup options.
For this closure, the city's Route 12A Dry Bridge Replacement Project page says "motorists are strongly encouraged to follow the posted detour route rather than using local roads as alternatives." Glen Road doesn't appear on the detour map. Valley News reported the city had not said whether it would add traffic controls there.
A separate project is also running on the interstate near the end of the detour. NHDOT is building a new I-89 northbound bridge over the Connecticut River near Exit 20 and the Vermont line. In a May 2026 release, the department said the $43 million project was anticipated to be complete in fall 2026. That was a forecast and hasn't been confirmed as finished. NHDOT encourages drivers to sign up for real-time alerts through New England 511.
Advance Transit lost the most direct part of its route. Starting September 14, there is no service at four stops at and across from Romano Circle and Glen Road Plaza. Advance Transit's figures show about 13,000 boardings and just under 13,000 drop-offs at those stops between July 1, 2025 and the end of June 2026.
Interim Executive Director Ashley Manning told Valley News that riders going from Main Street to the plazas should take the Red Route Lebanon bus from the nearest open stop, at Main Street and Church Street West. That bus goes to City Hall and then over I-89 to the plazas, and the return trip runs the same way in reverse. Manning also noted that riders who usually board near the bridge can walk over the footbridge to reach stops that are still open. Anyone whose disability keeps them from reaching the nearest stop can apply for Advance Transit's paratransit service.
So the shortest transit connection across the tracks also includes a walk over the footbridge.
The school district made its changes early. Five bus stops on South Main Street near the bridge were moved, and the affected students are now picked up at Romano Circle. Those routes started with the school year on August 26 so families wouldn't have to switch partway through the fall.
The span is 77 years old and has been on New Hampshire's "red list" of bridges needing major repair since 1998. The state owns it and the city maintains it, so the state, the city, and the federal government all have to approve the replacement. In 2009, Valley News reported that the city and state had been working on repairs for nine years, with a proposed project then estimated at $5.6 million. When Valley News asked City Manager Shaun Mulholland about the delay in 2025, he answered with one word: "bureaucracy."
The current plan pairs a new bridge with an access road into the Westboro Rail Yard, which the city has been trying to buy and redevelop. Construction on the $14.3 million replacement started this spring. Last summer, the City Council approved the yearlong closure to cut costs and attract bids.
Reports give two different end dates. The September 2026 Valley News article says the closure runs "until next September," and a photo caption in the same article says the replacement is planned to be finished in one year. The same article also says the new bridge is planned to open by the end of 2027. For comparison, in March 2025 the city expected construction to finish in October 2026. Until the bridge reopens, the footbridge is the one route across the tracks that didn't get longer.
If you own a home on either side of the tracks and want to know how this year of detours and new sidewalks factors into what your property is worth, Sandy Reavill can walk through it with you, even if the walk includes the footbridge. Request a free home valuation.
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