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.

Northern Berkshire United Way: 1970s Has Its Ups and Downs

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
06:17PM / Wednesday, June 03, 2026

The Northern Berkshire United Way sets its highest goal yet in 1979, and the first time going over $200,000. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Over three decades, the Northern Berkshire United Community Services had raised some $3 million for its affiliated agencies. 

 

That number was announced that the organizations "fifth" annual meeting in 1974, marking the time since Adams had joined, and counting the funds raised by the North Adams Community Chest and the North Adams and Adams United Funds and Northern Berkshire United Fund. 

 

The report that year was dedicated to past 24 volunteer campaign chairs, of whom 17 were still in the area and three — Russell Lanoue, George Higgins and G. Churchill Francis — had since died.

 

The amount of money raised seemed significant for the time, but the united fund found itself struggling in the early '70s as the economy dipped and its the need for its services grew. 

 

The campaign in 1970 saw an ambitious goal of $184,952 to support 16 agencies, with Northern Berkshire Child Care as the latest addition. The drive kicked off that goal at the Midway with Chair George Bateman, but it reached only 80 percent of its goal by the end. 

 

Batemen said it might not be a financial success but "I believe it was a spiritual success" because of the hard work and enthusiasm of so many drive volunteers.

 

But President Henry Pierpan said there would be allocation cuts for 1971 despite "a substantial sum" voted from reserve funds.