SALEM, N.H. — The pounding at night that disturbs the sleep of folks around Cross Street should end by midweek.
That's when the demolition of Cross Street bridge concrete decking should be complete, said Mark Caesar, the state Department of Transportation administrator for the project.
Caesar said the DOT has received complaints from six residents that the noise is keeping them up at night.
The commotion comes from a hydraulic-powered, steel ram that is pulverizing concrete decking of the old Cross Street bridge.
Broken concrete falls between bridge girders into a dump truck bed parked below on a closed lane on Interstate 93.
State engineers, officials and consultants decided long ago that closing any lanes of the interstate during the day was not an option, said Paul Metcalf, a DOT district engineer.
Commuter traffic would be backed up all the way to Manchester if lanes were closed during the day, he said.
"It's the lesser of two evils," Caesar said, referring to noise at night as opposed to daytime gridlock.
The state opened the new Cross Street span to traffic last month and is demolishing the old one.
Mike Flathers, who is retired and lives just beyond the bridge in a five-unit apartment complex, said he knows the noise bothers some people, but it is unavoidable.
"The traffic would be backed up to kingdom come," he said.
Sandra Lamirande, who lives on the opposite side of the road, at 26 Cross St., said the battering, jackhammer noise keeps her and her husband awake at night, but she's not complaining.
"Who would I complain to?" she said. "They have to do it at night."
Lamirande said she has a relative who lives several miles away and can hear the bridge demolition work.
A nine-member crew takes off about a 40-foot section of the 10-inch-deep reinforced concrete decking each night, Caesar said.
It's not the first bridge to be demolished in the widening project and won't be the last one, he said.
The state sends out press releases and posts information on its Web site, www.rebuildingi93.com, alerting the public about upcoming work, he said.
Two bridges are slated for demolition at Exit 1 next spring, he said.
The new Cross Street span is the first to be constructed to make room for the widening of I-93.
At 338 feet, Cross Street is twice the length of the next longest of the corridor's 18 deficient or red-listed bridges.
Altogether, 43 bridges will be affected by the I-93 corridor expansion.
