ERVING — When faced with the possibility of needing to take out a 15-year loan to replace the Church Street Bridge, town officials opted to delay the project, instead holding out hope that state funding might be allotted in the next calendar year.

Erving was notified in March that the Church Street Bridge would not be recommended for funding under the state Department of Transportation’s (MassDOT) Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) during the state and federal fiscal year 2023 budget cycle, which begins in October. This means that state approval of the project will not occur in calendar year 2023, and therefore, bidding and construction cannot begin this year, as had been intended if it were to be state-funded.

After the Selectboard and Finance Committee mulled replacing the bridge more expediently using a 15-year debt service plan during their joint meeting this week, the Finance Committee voted to recommend the Selectboard hold out for potential Transportation Improvement Program funding in FY24.

The bridge, constructed in 1940 across Keyup Brook, was derated to a 3-ton capacity due to structural deterioration in early 2021. The town appropriated funding that March to allow for engineering work to commence on a replacement project. Planning continued through the summer until the bridge was reduced to single-lane traffic in September 2021. Erving was granted borrowing authority for up to $1.6 million — the expected project cost — through approval of Article 15 on the May 11, 2022 Annual Town Meeting warrant.

“The town finds itself at another decision point,” Town Administrator Bryan Smith wrote in a March 24 letter to the Selectboard, Finance Committee and Capital Planning Committee. “We can either continue to work with our regional and state partners to identify and seek funding, or transition to a path were the town funds the project alone.”

In the event that the town were to borrow up to $1.6 million as approved at Town Meeting, plus pay another half-million dollars in interest, it would allow bidding for the bridge’s replacement to begin next spring or summer, and construction to begin in summer or fall, with “substantial completion” anticipated by the end of 2024, according to Selectboard Chair Jacob Smith.

The decision to wait for Transportation Improvement Program money from the state involves potentially waiting until late 2024 to begin the bidding process, likely delaying completion by at least six months. The Franklin County Transportation Planning Organization, however, feels “confident that the bridge project can be programmed for funding in federal fiscal year 2024 if the town is willing to make a commitment to remaining in the process,” according to Bryan Smith.

“If you wait a year or two years and you save the Erving taxpayers … 150-something-thousand per year for 15 years, it seems like it’s worth the wait,” Finance Committee member Daniel Hammock reasoned. “On the other hand, if the people who live there think it’s a horrible idea, I’m certainly sensitive to that, too.”

“I don’t feel good about asking our residents to pay for something they might be able to get for free,” Finance Committee Chair Debra Smith added. “We’ve waited this long. I live in that neighborhood. Yes, having that bridge out is a pain in the butt, but if I know it doesn’t have to come out of my tax dollars, I am OK waiting a little bit longer to see if we can get this taken care of for us.”

Bryan Smith said the town should know whether the project will be funded through the Transportation Improvement Program by this October. He noted that if the project isn’t funded in FY24, the town can pull out of the state program and proceed with a 15-year loan at any time, should town officials deem it favorable.

Regardless of how the project is to be funded, Bryan Smith intends to pursue another inspection of the bridge, as well as further conversation with residents affected by related traffic changes. Police Chief Robert Holst noted that there has been no change in the volume of traffic violations and “no more notice of accidents than before” since partial closure largely redirected traffic to North Street. He said reports of violations now simply come from North Street far more frequently than they do from Church Street.

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.

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