'Accelerated' Holmes Road Bridge to Be Done in Fall 2023
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Under an accelerated construction schedule, the Holmes Road bridge is staged to be finished in fall 2023 after a 60-day closure over the preceding summer.
Nearly a year and a half after the bridge was deemed unsafe for two-way traffic, the project is at a pre-25 percent design phase.
The state Department of Transportation says it has done all it can to fix the "structurally obsolete" bridge.
At a public hearing on Thursday, local and state officials spoke for residents who are frustrated by the seemingly long process.
State Sen. Adam Hinds said it is hard to for residents to feel good about this process with such extended timelines since the bridge has already been closed for some time and speculated on what the underlying factors were.
"We're often trying to put a good face on what government does, but boy, oh, boy, it's tough to put a good face on the fact that the design segment was about two years and so I guess one question becomes, how do we fix that problem? Is it a money problem? Is that a personnel problem?" he asked.
"I happen to be someone who likes bureaucracy, I think it serves a role when it comes to ensuring public safety and due diligence and double-checking and triple-checking things for safety measures, but it feels like at each step of this project, we've been hitting our head against prolonged timeframes that just can't quite seem to accelerate, even though from MassDOT's perspective they're accelerating."
State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier seconded the community's frustration with the project's extended timeline and highlighted the need for including the opinions of abutters when deciding when to close the road for 60 days.
"It's the opinions of the people in this room and other abutters and neighbors who I would very much value in helping to make that decision," she said. "Because bridge closure is going to impact these people the most."
Mayor Linda Tyer was also in attendance.
The bridge over the Housatonic Rail line was reduced to alternating one-lane traffic in March 2019 because of issues with carrying capacity and a temporary traffic signal was implemented to mitigate the flow of vehicles.
During a routine inspection of the bridge in May 2018, MassDOT engineers identified conditions that warranted further analysis into the structure's load-carrying capacity. These include "severely deteriorated" beams on the east side of the structure.
It was determined that the bridge could only remain open with single-lane, alternating one-way traffic until repairs are done.
Built in 1977, the bridge is in need of a superstructure replacement that includes bridge demolition, concrete repair to the existing substructure, pre-cast beam erection, a cast-in-place topping slab, sidewalk, and safety curb construction, and new pavement on approaches and over the bridge.
The proposal is for a single-span bridge with the existing abutments reused with modifications. The width will be slightly less than the existing bridge but will accommodate a larger sidewalk and painted buffer bike lanes.
The cost is not yet determined but MassDOT has allocated $2,868,450, a combination of 80 percent federal funding with a 20 percent state match.
To complete the bridge, MassDOT is proposing a complete roadway closure in summer 2023 while using an accelerated bridge construction schedule and extended work hours.
"We evaluated a staged construction where we would maintain a lane of traffic on the bridge like it is today and build the bridge in half, unfortunately, there are two issues with that, I think that are problematic," Design consultant Johnathan Gill said.
"One is the existing condition of the bridge, we're very uncomfortable doing that with the existing bridge, The other issue with that is it will increase the construction schedule by at least a year with the two stages contract and working around moving traffic and moving slower."
The two-lane structure with no traffic signal is expected to be open for travel before the 2023 school year.
During the closure, all through traffic will be detoured, there will be no pedestrian access on the bridge, emergency response will be coordinated with the city, and access for abutters will be maintained.
Though an official detour has not yet been designed, the suggested one is 1.3 miles long and goes from the south end of Holmes Road, right onto Route 7/20, right onto Crofut Street, right onto Pomeroy Avenue, and a right onto Holmes Road.
The 100 percent design is to be finished in January 2022 with a public hearing following in the next month. It will be advertised for bids that June and construction is planned to begin in the spring 2023.
Because the bridge was in the program for replacement, if the team had gone the "conventional" way it would have been looking at an end date of 2025.
They were able to convince the state to accelerate the program and it was placed in the state Transportation Improvement Program for the federal fiscal year 2022.
Ward 4 Councilor Chris Connell said this process should have begun before COVID-19 to be proactive.
"The bridge has been postponed almost two and a half years, let's just put COVID off to the side, that's a year over a lot in everyone's lives," he added. "But we have almost a year and a half before that, that even if we did not have the federal funds to do the actual construction or reconstruction of the bridge why didn't we at least have some of the design work done ahead of time so that we would be in a better position right now to jumpstart this program?"
Reportedly, the team has been working on this project since May 2019 and hit a "ton of roadblocks."
A number of abutters attended the hearing to voice their concerns on the timeline. Noise mitigation was mentioned as a request from neighbors, one abutter saying they have been "put through the wringer" with the noise of trucks stopping at the temporary traffic light.
Andrew Wrinn, a candidate for Ward 4, expressed concern over the bridge closure's impact on firefighters in the area.
Commissioner of Public Services and Utilities Ricardo Morales said that previously, Pittsfield firefighters were housed in Lenox.
"I agree with your timeline, I agree with what you're suggesting, noise is an issue, we know that, traffic's an issue, we know that," Holmes Road resident Stephen Johnson said.
"I'm living south of the bridge, I'll be traffic-free, with the exception of construction vehicles for two months, I can live with that, it's a temporary inconvenience and we all got to know that, the fact that we have to put up with it for another year, year and a half before anything's actually helped, it's the way it is."
MassDOT is encouraging feedback, which can be submitted to Carrie E. Lavallee, P.E., Acting Chief Engineer, at MassDOTProjectManagement@dot.state.ma.us or to Suite 6340, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116, Attention: Project Management, Project File No. 611955.
Tags: bridge project, MassDOT,
