ATHOL —– After a closure of nearly two years, the Pinedale Avenue Bridge that connects Athol and Orange has reopened.

A soft opening of the bridge was done on Thursday, Aug. 15, with an official announcement issued by Town Manager Shaun Suhoski this week.

“It is open,” said Department of Public Works Director Dick Kilhart. “We advised the local EMS on Thursday (Aug. 15). When the contractor cleared from the project, we let the EMS folks in Orange and Athol know on Thursday evening that if they had an emergency, they could now go across it.”

Kilhart said the state Department of Transportation is pleased with the way the bridge has turned out, “at least from their initial reaction.” He added that Dan Sund, MassDOT’s bridge engineer for District 2, plans to take a look at the bridge. That district includes Athol and several other western Massachusetts communities.

The bridge was ordered to be closed by MassDOT in December 2022, several months earlier than anticipated.

“It was not going to be shut down until the contract [for reconstruction] started, which would have been April 1 of 2023,” said Kilhart. “But there were folks who were not paying attention to the reduced weight limit, which was 3 tons. The MassDOT truck team, the Orange Police Department, the Athol Police Department wrote tickets to those folks. I even stopped a … trash truck from going over it.

“But when the truck team reports that people aren’t following the rules, then MassDOT made the phone call and said, ‘Close the bridge — and close it within the next 24 hours.’ So, that’s five months people could have still been driving over it, but because some folks were breaking the rules it had to be closed sooner. So the bridge closure could have been 14 months instead of closer to two years.”

Work on the bridge was slowed a couple of times, first because National Grid relocated several utility poles to comply with regulations governing how close construction cranes can operate in proximity to electrical lines.

Another brief delay, according to Kilhart, was so the 75-foot concrete arches used to support the span could be moved without being damaged. The engineers for Orange and Athol wanted to ensure “that when they lift those off the truck and set them in place, that they don’t crack in half,” he said. “Ultimately, the plan got approved, those arches were set in place, and here we are today with a very nice bridge.”

Reconstruction of the bridge, which spans the Tully River, was done by Construction Dynamics of Clinton for $1.7 million. The Tully River marks the town line between Orange and Athol. The cost was split evenly between the towns of Athol and Orange.

Orange chose to fund its share of the cost with state Chapter 90 funds, while Town Meeting voters in Athol chose to pass a $2.5 million Proposition 2½ debt exclusion to pay for the Pinedale and several other bridge projects.

“I’m happy for the people on both sides of the bridge,” Kilhart said. “They can now traverse through there. Overall, in the grand scheme of things, I know it was challenging for people if they wanted to go over that way, but it was long overdue. Unfortunately, when we rebuild these superstructures, they’re closed for a period of time.”

The next bridge slated for repair is the Fryeville Road Bridge, which crosses the Tully River northeast of the Pinedale. In February of 2023, Suhoski was informed by MassDOT that the state would cover the entire cost of the Fryeville.

Kilhart said the cost of the reconstruction hasn’t yet been determined, as it is still in the design phase.

“It’s considered the sister bridge of Pinedale, so I would assume the cost would be close to the same, but the cost of things has risen pretty dramatically in recent years and I wouldn’t want to make a guess,” Kilhart said. “But the folks in Athol and Orange should consider themselves very fortunate that the state is picking up the cost, including design, engineering and construction.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.