DEERFIELD — The town Highway Department hopes to have Mill Village Road reopened by the end of the day. Town workers and a private contractor have been working to fix a collapsed culvert there. During that time the northern end of the road has been closed.
Interim Town Administrator Douglas C. Finn said the work began about a week and a half ago just south of Old Main Street due to the collapse. The work is being conducted in conjunction with Henry C. Kocot & Sons Inc. Finn said this is an emergency repair and the corrugated spiral steel culvert is 18 inches in diameter.
“(It) channeled water from the east side of Mill Village Road to the west side. That pipe collapsed over the course of time and … caused a significant backup of water,” Finn said.
He told The Recorder a 36-inch plastic culvert has been placed roughly 10 feet from the repaired one. He said the fixed culvert can handle a normal, steady flow of water and the plastic one, placed slightly higher, is available to deal with any water from heavy rainstorms or spring floods.
Finn said this project will result in a $20,000 to $30,000 hit to the town’s highway expense, though the town has applied for reimbursement from the Mass. Department of Transportation. The project has been reviewed by the Deerfield Conservation Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection.
At Wednesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, Finn said the 18-inch steel culvert was installed “ages ago.”
Finn said Public Works Superintendent Keith Scarborough hopes to have the road reopened today, but there is no guarantee that will happen. The road will be reduced to one lane until the culvert is replaced.
“This is just a fix,” Finn said at the selectmen’s meeting. “We are going to need to do a proper replacement of the culvert. That will be a $150,000 project.”
Finn said he wants to apply for state funds to finance the replacement.
The steel culvert must be replaced with a concrete one, though that project won’t be completed for one or two years.
You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 257.
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