MassDOT: $60M to Maintain & Fix Western Mass Bridges

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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The MPO was updated on the projects Tuesday afternoon.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The state is currently spending more than $60 million in maintaining the 271 bridges in Western Massachusetts.
 
Peter Frieri, of the Department of Transportation's District 1, said nearly $10 million is being spent on emergency repairs and $51 million on rehabilitation projects. 
 
"Currently, there is $10 million that has been spent or will be spent on bridges," Frieri told the Berkshire Metropolitan Planning Organization on Wednesday.
 
Deck repairs are the most expensive and are being done under a $2.8 million contract with MIG Corp. at various locations throughout the district. SPS New England has the $1.1 million deck-repair contract.
 
The state is spending $1.6 million through J.H. Maxymillian on substructure repairs and $1.5 million with SPS on superstructure repairs. Clayton Davenport has a $2.6 million contract for other structural repairs and SPS again has a $436,000 contract for joint repairs. The completion dates for these repair projects range from May 2015 to November 2016.
 
The district includes not only the Berkshires but also parts of Hampshire, Hamden and Franklin counties. In the Berkshires, there are $51 million worth of bridge projects ongoing.
 
The largest bridge project is the Hadley Overpass in North Adams. That project, at nearly $35 million, is expected to be completed by the end of January 2015. Northern Construction is the low bidder on the next most expensive contract, which is the replacement of the Woodlawn Avenue bridge in Pittsfield. 
 
The next largest ongoing project is on Hopper Road in Williamstown — a $3.3 million project with a bid opening scheduled for this past Friday.
 
A bridge over Route 7A in Sheffield is being repaired by Maxymillian at nearly a $3 million cost. That project is 90 percent done and is expected to wrap up in the spring. A bridge on Route 41 is being replaced by Maxymillian at a cost of $2.2 million. A bridge on Route 8 in Sandisfield is being replaced for $1.4 million.
 
A bridge repair on Route 8 in Adams is nearing completion at a cost of $887,000 by MIG Corp. and a bridge on Route 8 in Sandisfield is eyed for repair at a cost of $695,000.
 
The MPO members said they would like to know how the bridges are prioritized, and Frieri said he would prepare a presentation.
 
"We're going to see more bridges needing repairs because of the weather we've been getting," said MPO member Jim Lovejoy.

Tags: bridge work,   MassDOT,   MPO,   transportation,   

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State Fire Marshal: New Tracking Tool Identifies 50 Lithium-Ion Battery Fires

STOW, Mass. — The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services' new tool for tracking lithium-ion battery fires has helped to identify 50 such incidents in the past six months, more than double the annual average detected by a national fire data reporting system, said State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine.
 
The Department of Fire Services launched its Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Investigative Checklist on Oct. 13, 2023. It immediately went into use by the State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit assigned to the State Fire Marshal's office, and local fire departments were urged to adopt it as well. 
 
Developed by the DFS Fire Safety Division, the checklist can be used by fire investigators to gather basic information about fires in which lithium-ion batteries played a part. That information is then entered into a database to identify patterns and trends.
 
"We knew anecdotally that lithium-ion batteries were involved in more fires than the existing data suggested," said State Fire Marshal Davine. "In just the past six months, investigators using this simple checklist have revealed many more incidents than we've seen in prior years."
 
Prior to the checklist, the state's fire service relied on battery fire data reported to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System (MFIRS), a state-level tool that mirrors and feeds into the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). NFIRS tracks battery fires but does not specifically gather data on the types of batteries involved. Some fields do not require the detailed information that Massachusetts officials were seeking, and some fires may be coded according to the type of device involved rather than the type of battery. Moreover, MFIRS reports sometimes take weeks or months to be completed and uploaded.
 
"Investigators using the Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Checklist are getting us better data faster," said State Fire Marshal Davine. "The tool is helpful, but the people using it are the key to its success."
 
From 2019 to 2023, an average of 19.4 lithium-ion battery fires per year were reported to MFIRS – less than half the number identified by investigators using the checklist over the past six months. The increase since last fall could be due to the growing number of consumer devices powered by these batteries, increased attention by local fire investigators, or other factors, State Fire Marshal Davine said. For example, fires that started with another item but impinged upon a battery-powered device, causing it to go into thermal runaway, might not be categorized as a battery fire in MFIRS or NFIRS.
 
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