Four years ago this week, Tom Brady was the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland’s baseball team was still called the Indians, and the Green Bridge in Woodstock was a rusted-out, rickety danger.
Today, Brady is no longer playing ball, the Indians are now the Cleveland Guardians, and the Green Bridge is still a rusted-out, rickety danger.
On Nov. 16, 2021, President Joe Biden and New Hampshire’s all-Democrat delegation walked out onto that bridge to tout their $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, promising the spending bill would finally fix the 86-year-old span across the Pemigewasset River.
“America is moving again, and your life is going to change for the better,” Biden said at the time.
But not moving very fast. According to Woodstock Public Works Director Mike Welch, the bridge won’t be completed anytime soon. In fact, as residents in the White Mountains resort town head to work on Monday, the bridge is expected to be completely closed to traffic.
The Green Bridge in Woodstock, N.H., November 2025 (CREDIT: Damien Fisher)
Months of work to strip old paint from the steel bridge and apply new coats are finally done, and the long-awaited structural repairs will begin. Steel cables need to be replaced, and the bridge deck must be lifted and rebuilt. Welch said the project — managed by the state with state and federal funds — is surprisingly on target despite what feels like a four-year wait.
New Hampshire has listed the Green Bridge as unsafe since 2014. Despite Biden’s promises to boost the economy with increased infrastructure spending, the renovation has moved at the usual pace.
“I don’t know that it’s way behind,” Welch said.
Using nearly 100-year-old technology, the Empire State Building was built in less than 14 months. After Hurricane Ian cut off Sanibel Island from the Florida mainland, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) got emergency road and bridge repairs done in three days.
But four years after Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen stood on the Green Bridge, drivers are still restricted to one lane as the deck continues to deteriorate. The bridge’s current three-ton maximum vehicle capacity — imposed due to its poor condition — is well below the average weight of many full-sized SUVs.
The Green Bridge in Woodstock, N.H. November 2025. (CREDIT: Damien Fisher)
Now, people living on the other side of the river on Route 175 will need to detour miles out of their way to go about their normal routines. Welch said the inconvenience won’t affect many people. The 175-foot bridge typically carries about 570 cars a day.
“It’s not a high-volume road,” Welch said.
Kim Pickering, executive director of the Western White Mountains Chamber of Commerce, said most locals are already accustomed to getting around without the bridge.
“We’re New Englanders — we’re pretty adaptable,” Pickering said. “We’ve all gotten used to the limited access.”
Woodstock residents already deal with traffic surges during tourist season, Pickering said. Adding a detour for a largely residential area won’t disrupt business in town.
People who live on the other side of the river can get to nearby Lincoln to access I-93 or drive a few miles south to connect with Route 3. But the detour affects more than commuters.
Driving around the closed bridge is a mild inconvenience for an oil truck, school bus, or UPS delivery — but it’s a serious concern for fire trucks and ambulances, potentially losing minutes on their way to an emergency. The North Woodstock Fire Station is about a third of a mile from the Green Bridge and four miles from the next crossing over the river.
Since the Green Bridge became part of Biden’s spending agenda, he has lost his bid for reelection, Brady has gotten a facelift and become a broadcaster, and the Guardians have managed to put together three winning seasons out of four.
This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.