WORTHINGTON — After being closed for two years, construction on the Sam Hill Road Bridge is scheduled to begin Sept. 7 with a completion date set for the end of November.
“The magic phrase here is before the snow flies,” said Select Board chairman Evan Johnson.
The Sam Hill Road bridge spans the Watts Stream and is a paved road connecting West Street to Route 112 (Huntington Road.)
Johnson and Highway Superintendent Cork Nugent recently met with project engineer Marc Levasseu, and construction field representative John Lander of Foresight Land Services, as well as Rich Brynda and Bob Brown of Warner Brothers Construction, to nail down the timing for the steps in the repair process.
Brynda said that preparations for demolition will begin in September, with erosion controls set in place and the actual deconstruction of the bridge happening in October, just before a new precast bridge is delivered.
“We will cut the deck in thirds, lift it out and then remove the abutments,” Brown said. “I don’t think the demolition should take long, I think it could happen inside of a week.”
During the water control phase, there will be a generator operating 24 hours a day for about a week to pump water. Several residents who attended the meeting said this did not concern them.
“I expected that and I don’t care, as long as it gets done, I won’t fight you and I will do all I can to help,” R.J. Beaudry of Sam Hill Road said.
Beaudry lives on the south side of Sam Hill Road next to the bridge, were there has historically been problems during heavy rainfall.
“My biggest concern is drainage. As it is, water washes out my driveway and makes a sink hole on the other side,” Beaudry said.
Last October, the town was awarded $790,000 from the MassWorks Infrastructure Program for the engineering and repair of the bridge, after it was deemed unsafe by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and closed in 2014.
Since the bridge closing, Sam Hill Road residents and a large portion of West Street residents have had to find other ways to and from Route 112 and the center of town.
The problem has been that these alternate routes are gravel roads which prove challenging to keep open in the winter. This has caused particular concern with regard to access for emergency vehicles.
“I am thinking about giving the Sam Hill Bridge repair it’s own web page,” Select Board assistant Peggy O’Neal said. “It has been closed a long time and it is a big issue with a lot of interest here in town.”
The hours of work will be from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
“I am very happy to see this finally being done,” Lene McLean of Sam Hill Road said at the meeting. “I really appreciate all of the work you have put into this.”