HANCOCK — Four residents have taken on the task of finding a way to reopen Mill Road Bridge to pedestrians and horses, said Select Board Chairman John Jordan.

The residents plan to research what repairs are needed, how much the project would cost and how it would be funded.

Hunt Dowse, Laurie Bryan, Rich LeFebvre and Cresca Albright volunteered to research the bridge repair project, Town Administrator Barbara Caverly said.

The town has no funds to repair the bridge, which was designated a Class A trail about 17 years ago, Jordan said, adding, “There might be some state money for Class A trails.”

The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic around 1993, Jordan said. “At that time it was listed as in imminent danger of collapse.”

Since then, however, it has been a pedestrian bridge. Mill Road runs between Longview Road and Antrim Road. It also connects a number of trails in town, Jordan said. “We recognize it’s an important link. We certainly want to support it.”

Town officials closed the bridge two weeks ago after Public Works director Kurt Grassett received a written complaint that there is a hole in the deck. Grassett went out to the bridge and found the wooden deck was rotting.

“We certainly can’t recommend people use it at this time,” Jordan said.

The 1930s vintage bridge consists of a wooden deck set on top of railroad rails.

The Select Board asked residents to come to Monday’s board meeting to discuss the bridge. On Tuesday, Jordan said the board decided that no decision would be made until they knew how residents felt about the bridge. “A good number of people showed up and discussed the bridge. ... It was a very productive meeting. There was more interest than I expected.”

What they learned was that hikers, runners, cyclists and horse riders use the bridge on a regular basis and want to keep the bridge open to that activity, he said.

“There was a very avid interest in people wanting to keep it active for horses,” Jordan said. “If that’s what the use is we’ve got to find a way to put in a new facility to accommodate the people who are using it.”

There was a brief discussion at the meeting about a temporary fix that would open the bridge to runners for the traditional Run for the Honey race route on Old Home Days, however, town officials and residents decided that would be too expensive, Jordan said.

Jordan said the town doesn’t have capital improvement funds for the bridge, however, if other sources of funding are not available, there may be a discussion regarding whether or not the town should fund the project.