AMHERST — A Station Road bridge closed last month will remain out of service for nearly two more years and will be much more costly to repair than initial projections, the Select Board learned Monday.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman informed board members that the bridge, determined to be structurally deficient during an inspection by state Department of Transportation officials in September, will require extensive and rigorous environmental permitting and have to go through a reconstruction process.
“It’s going to be a long time before that bridge is replaced,” Bockelman said.
Bockelman estimates that, even if repairs get underway in November, an optimistic timeline has the bridge reopening in August 2020. Preliminary estimates show the bridge replacement costs at $2.6 million.
An earlier plan by the Department of Public Works to use box culverts and to install a prefabricated bridge over the Hop Brook is not feasible based on a state regulation that governs bridges with spans in excess of 10 feet, Bockelman said.
Town inspectors had been keeping a close eye on the bridge, which was originally built in the 1950s and got a deck replacement in 1986. But when a pothole developed on the surface after heavy rains, inspectors observed significant rust and deflection in the beams beneath the bridge, and called in state inspectors to evaluate whether it could remain open.
Station Road typically serves as one of three main east-west routes for travelers going to and from the Amherst Woods neighborhoods in Amherst and parts of Belchertown. Those residents now have to use Route 9 or Bay Road when traveling to Amherst center, Hadley and Northampton.
It is not yet known whether the bridge will get onto a state program that will pay for some or all of the costs of repair.
Select Board member Alisa Brewer said she would like to see Bockelman and the DPW compile a list of all bridges in Amherst so that officials won’t be caught off guard in the future.
In North Amherst, the bridge on Mill Street below Puffer’s Pond is being replaced, several years after it was closed to vehicular traffic.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
