Great Barrington — The replacement of a 107-year-old water main under Bridge Street, which has resulted in the periodic closure of portions of the thoroughfare between Main and East streets for the past three weeks, should be completed in the next four to six weeks, according to the Great Barrington Fire District, and will be followed by repaving of the road surface and rebuilding of the sidewalk. In addition, the state will also upgrade and repaint the Bridge Street bridge.
The work that began at the intersection of Bridge and Main streets, and has now moved east in front of the former Searles High School, has created traffic snags and detours at the height of the summer tourist season.
The Fire District’s Cynthia Ullrich told the Edge the project will go faster if there aren’t any surprises beneath the road. “It depends on what is in the ground once it’s opened,” she said. “We don’t know what we’ll find.”
Ullrich said the work will not move east beyond the bridge, however.
Town Planner Chris Rembold told the Edge a schedule for the paving and sidewalks between Main and School streets had not yet been set, but said the town hoped to do the work either late this summer or early fall. “It’s a very short section,” he said. “It will be quick work. The paving will take less than a week.”

That work is part of a larger infrastructure project in and around the Bridge Street area funded by a $2.1 million MassWorks grant to support economic development initiatives. Plans for a new upscale hotel in the former Searles School and a proposed commercial and housing development on former New England Log Homes brownfield parcel helped the town get that award from the state. The overhaul will also send utility lines underground.
Anticipating traffic and especially truck weight increases on the bridge, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) agreed to shift about $1 million to paint the brown bridge to the north and instead upgrade the 65-year-old Bridge Street bridge to handle higher loads and paint it. Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox) had asked the state for the money swap and it agreed. The bridge work, Rembold said, would likely start in early August and will shut down one lane of traffic. MassDOT had previously said upgrades to the bridge might take several months to complete.
Rembold further said the town would issue press releases when schedules and potential road closures are made available from the town’s contractor.