Last week, reporter Jon Hurdle reported on the damage and repairs to the Route 9 bridge – Bridge 31 in VTrans parlance – in the center of Wilmington Village. The bridge has been plagued with problems and repairs over the last several years and, when new holes opened up in the bridge deck earlier this year, part of the repairs included a large steel plate embedded on the surface of the bridge. Downtown residents, visitors, and businesses were treated to a nearly nonstop cacophony of tires and steel pounding on concrete and bituminous patch for several months.