WHATELY – Following a letter from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), the Christian Lane bridge over Mill River will be reduced to one lane as its condition is assessed.
The town must respond to MassDOT by Oct. 15 with the action it has taken to address repairing the bridge’s structure. The Selectboard and Town Administrator Brian Domina weighed their options on either closing the bridge completely or reducing it to one lane at Wednesday’s meeting.
“We should move forward on just closing the lane that is required to be closed as a stop gap measure,” said Selectboard Chair Jonathan Edwards.
Domina noted the project, whether it’s a repair or replacement, is going to be expensive for Whately.
“Bridges are not cheap,” Domina said. “The only thing the town has going for it is it’s in pretty good shape financially.”
Domina said the letter from MassDOT noted there are “deteriorated exterior timber piles,” which isn’t very clear to people not in the industry.
“I’m not a bridge engineer so I have no idea what that means,” Domina said in a phone call, “but people at MassDOT do.”
He added bridges are inspected at least every 24 months and the condition of the bridge was surprising. The town will need to find somebody to assess the bridge’s condition before deciding whether a replacement or repair is in order.
“We know the bridge is old,” Domina said. “That’s about all we know at this point.”
The lane reduction will occur within the next week as the town is “just getting some of the signs” it needs. In terms of finances, Domina said the town’s intent is “to pursue as much state or federal funding” as it can.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.