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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 claims the project — managed by the state with state and federal funds — is surprisingly on target despite 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)

And the contract completion date for the bridge is November 6, 2026 — almost another year away.

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.

Locals may call it “ManchVegas,” but few couples are willing to take a gamble and have their wedding there.

And they’re “just saying no” to Nashua, too.

That is the finding of a new study ranking America’s best places to get married, which puts both Manchester and Nashua in the ‘Ten Worst” category.

WalletHub’s 2022 rating of the Best Places to Get Married evaluated 180 cities as wedding destinations based on costs, available wedding venues, and services, as well as local attractions and, unfortunately, weather. 

Manchester came in number 172 out of 180. Nashua was 174.

Jennifer Matthews, owner of New Hampshire wedding planning firm Memorable Events, said most brides she works with look for special places featuring some of New Hampshire’s dramatic views, like the Lakes Region, the White Mountain area, or the Monadnock Region. 

“The Monadnock and Lakes and Mountains are some of the most accommodating and beautiful places in all of New England,” she said.

Weddings are big business, a $57 billion industry where the average wedding costs more than $22,000. Matthews said the average cost for weddings she arranges is around $50,000 to $75,000.

“Not to say you can’t do it for less,” she acknowledged. “But I have couples who do it for more.”

Wendy Hunt, president and CEO of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce, defended the Gate City, saying Nashua and the region offer a lot for couples getting married.

“I think we have beautiful venues in the greater Nashua region,” she said.

There are event centers at large hotels like the Radisson and the newly renovated Sheraton. Manchester boasts its own facilities like the downtown DoubleTree by Hilton. 

“I’ve been to quite a few weddings at Sky Meadow (Country Club in Nashua),” Hunt said.

Matthews said many of the brides she works with want to have exclusive control over the venue. That means instead of going to a hotel or convention center where they might not be the only wedding that weekend, brides are renting private homes on one of New Hampshire’s lakeshores or a farmhouse with views of Mount Monadnock.

Matthews does have a venue she likes to use in southern New Hampshire, a family-run banquet facility in Hollis that can provide exclusive access for brides.

WalletHub’s listing finds Manchester and Nashua ranking high for costs while coming in low on extra attractions to make the wedding day a destination event. Ranking at the top of the list is Orlando, followed by Las Vegas and Miami, largely based on area attractions for each city.

One of WalletHub’s experts, Lisa Rene Reynolds, program director and associate professor in the Master of Science Program in Marriage and Family Therapy at Iona College, said city leaders need to work hard to get couples interested in spending wedding dollars in their towns.

“If local businesses want to get in on the wedding action, they need to do so by advertising this and especially marketing new and novel ideas that will make them stand out from the sea of other vendors,” she said. “For example, if a catering company can push a completely locally grown and sourced menu or late-night taco food trucks outside the reception, they should push what makes them stand out in the crowd.”

The 2022 wedding season is anticipated to be the biggest one since 1984, Matthews said. Many people delayed their weddings in 2020, and a lot of people decided to get engaged in the last couple of years after all the months of lockdowns, creating a COVID-marriage bottleneck.

“They figured, ‘We made it through that, we can make it through a lifetime,’” Matthews said.

Many New Hampshire wedding planners are already booked through 2023, no matter where brides want to have their special day.