NORTHFIELD — More than 30 years after the Schell Memorial Bridge was closed, state Senate President Stan Rosenberg will report on the progress of the bridge’s replacement Thursday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Northfield Elementary School.
The bridge, which was donated to the town by Francis R. Schell in 1903, provided residents with easy transportation between the two sides of Northfield, which is divided by the Connecticut River. It was closed in 1985 because it had deteriorated too far for safe use, according to the Schell Memorial Bridge website.
“It’s sad because it was nice to have a connecting bridge between the two ends of Northfield,” Town Administrator Brian Noble said. The Route 10 bridge is now the only way to get from one part of Northfield to the other.
Since it was closed, there have been plans to rehabilitate the bridge, followed by plans to tear it down.
“The Friends of Schell Bridge have kept it clear that they want a bridge,” Noble said of the nonprofit organization advocating to rehabilitate and reopen the bridge. “Stan (Rosenberg) has been working on this for a long time.”
As of June, the bridge is listed as a 2021 bicycle and pedestrian bridge project by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation with an estimated price tag of $18.7 million.
Rosenberg will be joined at the event by state Rep. Paul Mark, the Board of Selectmen and representatives from the Franklin Regional Council of Governments and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Noble expects the event to provide residents with answers to many questions.
“What they’re basically going to answer for us is when, how much and what they need from Northfield to do it,” he said. Noble said the reconstruction of the bridge is a topic of importance to many residents and expects the event to draw a big crowd.
“It’s about our town, the access to our town, eco-tourism, the whole thing,” he said.