MONTAGUE — Massachusetts Department of Transportation will be making repairs to the Fifth Street Bridge over the upper canal starting on Wednesday, Jan. 9, not two days earlier, as officials originally reported.
It is estimated the work will be completed by the end of January, weather permitting.
The Contractor, MIG Corporation, will close the bridge starting that Monday, and it will remain closed until a new bridge deck is installed and rail repairs are completed across the bridge. It should be noted that the “White Bridge,” via Turners Falls Road over the Connecticut River will remain open up to the Fifth Street Bridge for local access only.
Town Administrator Steve Ellis said although the repairs were originally anticipated to occur in October of 2018, the project was delayed. He said he received questions about how emergency services would have access to the northern side of the canal.
“(Emergency services) would most likely go over the 11th Street or the Bailey bridge, then go right by the old housing authority and move the barricade that’s there in order to access the northern side of the canal in those instances,” Ellis said.
Ellis said similarly to when repairs where made to the “White Bridge,” while the Fifth Street bridge is closed, all traffic will be detoured to Route 2A and Route 2 in Greenfield, Avenue A in Turners Falls and the bridge that carries Avenue A over the Connecticut River.