Ground broken for Dover Bridge
![Officials including the governor and first lady, lawmakers and other shovel dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for the long-awaited replacement of the Dover Bridge in North Idaho. (Courtesy phot / Idaho Transportation Department)](https://thumb.spokesman.com/2dgvEB8rPnl638PDPdrogo140OE=/810x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2009/07/22/groundbreak1.jpg)
The groundbreaking is on now for the infamous Dover Bridge replacement, a project that languished for three decades for lack of funding - despite a large chunk of the bridge deck falling away, and national attention from such media outlets as Popular Mechanics magazine and the History Channel, which highlighted the Bonner County bridge as one of the worst in America. “The Dover Bridge is exactly the kind of project that reflects the critical need for us to think long-term about our road and bridge needs, and our responsibility for addressing them," Gov. Butch Otter said today in a news release. "This isn’t a quick fix, and our approach to this issue can’t be either.”
The $21.6 million project, which is being paid for with federal economic stimulus money, will replace the 24-foot-wide, two-lane bridge with a five-lane structure that'll be 72 feet wide and 1,200 feet long, compared to the current 295 foot length. The original bridge, which runs over railroad tracks on Highway 2, was built in 1937.