MONTAGUE — Town officials are optimistic that the scope of the Fifth Street pedestrian bridge project’s MassWorks grant may be altered to “focus on improvements along Canal Street,” as articulated by Town Administrator Steve Ellis.
The feeling, Ellis said, stems from continued communication with the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, following the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s decision to replace three adjacent bridges in a way that would obstruct the planned pedestrian bridge. With progress already “80% into the cost” of the $2.3 million pedestrian bridge replacement, according to Town Planner Walter Ramsey, Montague is faced with making the most of its grant money.
“We’ve gotten very good indications from Housing and Economic Development, which manages the MassWorks grant, that if we resubmit an amended application probably in mid-July, which would be the soonest they’d really be able to look at it, we should get a green light as long as we stay within the general original parameters of the project area,” Ellis said.
Possible alternative uses for the bridge itself, which has not yet been assembled but has been paid for and fabricated, was the topic of discussion during a June 13 Selectboard meeting. Its most likely value, Ramsey said, would be as scrap metal. He did, however, say he planned to reach out to the state to see if it would have any use for the bridge, and it does not.
“The (Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development) has not expressed any interest in that bridge,” Ellis announced Monday.
Selectboard Chair Rich Kuklewicz brainstormed ideas for how the town could repurpose the steel at the June 13 meeting, suggesting that Ramsey could field interest from local schools that might be able to use the materials for educational purposes. This week, Ellis said that the town could either “obtain what is really a lot of steel stock” or “take nothing from this vendor.” He continued by suggesting that Montague could either use the materials internally or share the materials with neighboring municipalities, but likely could not sell them due to what the grant’s conditions permit.
“I’m sure we can find somebody to take it and it will be beneficial in some sort of fashion,” Kuklewicz said.
The current Fifth Street pedestrian bridge (the smaller brown bridge next to the green vehicle bridge) has been closed since August 2017, when MassDOT found it was not up to code. David G. Roach & Sons Inc. was awarded the construction project with a higher-than-expected low bid of $2.3 million.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.