Clarksburg Looking at Pricey Replacement for Culvert

The state has told the town it has to put in a temporary bridge to replace cast iron boiler being used a culvert on Gates Avenue.

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Town officials are hoping its state representatives can run interference with the state Department of Environmental Protection on a costly culvert replacement on Gates Avenue.

The state is calling for a temporary bridge on the dead-end road that could cost two to three times what the town has budgeted for repairs.

"We don't have that kind of money," said Selectmen Chairman Carl McKinney last week. "We've got about $106,000, $114,000, which is just barely enough to repair the culvert in place."

McKinney said the town has spoken with state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi and was expected to meet with state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing on Tuesday to see if they could help the town find alternatives

The culvert is actually an old cast-iron boiler from a factory that's been holding up the road for decades. It has been failing for some time and was further exacerbated by Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011. The town had hoped to receive some federal or state funding for storm damage but that did not come through.

The plan had been to replace it with a new slip culvert and repair headwalls last year. But the state DEP is calling for a temporary bridge for now because the planned culvert would be too small for the fish, said McKinney.

An engineer who reviewed the site has given a low-end estimate of $280,000 for the installation of a temporary bridge, with $400,000 on the high side.

The cost to repair the East Road bridge last year was $275,000.

North Adams Glamping Project Teams With Luxury Resort for New Approvals

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:24AM / Friday, April 17, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Just last fall, wellness and fancy tents were the core of the glamping proposal for Notch Road.

 

On Monday, developer Benjamin Crespi of 196 Marine LLC, was back before the Planning Board with a dramatically different proposal: 49 two-bedroom tourists cabins with a restaurant and recreational amenities.

 

He was approved with a lengthy list of conditions hammered out between the project and a group of residents represented by attorney Alexandra Glover of Lazan Glover & Puciloski.

 

"After I think multiple rounds and many discussions with neighbors to understand what their reservations about the project were, we went back to the drawing board," said Crespi. "The main critical issues were the fact that my last permit allowed me to be open to the general public.

 

"There was concerns about the number of events and the size of those events. There was concern about noise impact in the neighborhood, traffic volume, traffic routing and wildlife interaction."

 

He detailed the 19 issues that the neighbors had and determined the way forward was to limit access only to paying customers and not open to the public for events.

 

"It was very clear that I had to reduce the volume of people on site. So if I reduce my guest count, and I've lost those profit centers, then I need to offset by going to a higher level of service. That's exactly what I've done," Crespi said.