SHELBURNE — The town has received a grant to repair Brook Road, two years after an unsafe bridge prompted its closure.
About three-quarters of Brook Road was closed September 2017 after a state inspected deemed one of the bridges over the Hinsdale Brook unsafe, Highway Superintendent Mark Shippee said.
Brook Road runs parallel to Route 2 between Colrain-Shelburne Road in Shelburne and Colrain Road in Greenfield. The road is considered the “back way” from Shelburne to Greenfield, Shippee said.
The bridge has three significant cracks and must be completely replaced, Shippee said. Shelburne was awarded a Small Bridge Grant worth $500,000 last month. The project is expected to cost about $500,000.
Shelburne resident Alden Dreyer has lobbied to have the road repaired since it closed in 2017. Dreyer says Brook Road is a safer alternative to Route 2.
“My family tends to avoid Route 2, where most drivers seem to regard the maximum speed as the minimum, and the police are rarely seen,” Dreyer wrote in a July letter to the Selectboard.
The road will be repaired and reopened in about two years, Shippee estimated.
Reach Grace Bird at gbird@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 280.