MONTAGUE — The Fifth Street pedestrian bridge replacement has been ordered and is expected to be delivered in July, Town Administrator Steve Ellis announced at Monday’s Selectboard meeting.
Last slated for replacement by June 30, the pedestrian bridge (the smaller brown bridge next to the green vehicle bridge) has been closed since August 2017, when the state Department of Transportation (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, which will be funded using a MassWorks grant.
Currently, Ellis said, Montague is in the process of firming up final engineering approvals with abutter FirstLight Hydro Generating Co. and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
“It is not easy to build anything in that area, and so we’ve encountered — I don’t want to say obstacles — practical questions that have to be considered as we move through that approval process with FirstLight and FERC,” Ellis explained. “They’ve been good collaborators, but it’s taken a lot of extra effort and there’s had to be some additional engineering done as part of the process.”
Ellis also met with David G. Roach & Sons Inc. Tuesday morning. During this meeting, he said, a project timeline was established that would see the “most intensive work” completed in July, following delivery of the new bridge. Preliminary utility work will be conducted in May and June in anticipation, including the transfer of utilities to the Turners Falls side of the canal.
Once the new bridge is in place, utility installation will commence before the old bridge is removed. The entire replacement is expected to take around two and a half months, concluding in mid-September.
Throughout the process, Ellis said Montague intends “to reduce the impact of any partial or complete lane closures” using signs and “simple graphics” to keep traffic flowing smoothly.
“At this point in time,” he said, “there will be only selected days in which they will close the roadway.”
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.