BOSTON — The administration of Gov. Charlie Baker has announced how it intends to spend more than $9.5 billion in federal infrastructure funds awarded to the state over the next five years. The plan includes many projects in Berkshire County.
The administration has prioritized badly needed spending on roads, bridges, public transportation and environmental infrastructure projects across the state with funding from the recently passed federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) signed into law by President Biden in November. That’s good news for southern Berkshire County, where several projects, some of which have lain dormant for years, will now receive funding.
See video below of yesterday’s briefing at UMass-Lowell on the plans for spending $9.5 billion in federal infrastructure funds:
Three of the bridges are in Great Barrington. Perhaps the most crucial funding is for two spans that have been closed for extended periods of time: $3.85 million for the Cottage Street bridge and $13.96 million for the Division Street bridge.
The Cottage Street span was closed in December 2018 by order of the state Department of Transportation, which gave the bridge its lowest rating and noted “deteriorated stringer webs at both abutments” as the primary reason for the closing. The bridge was slated for replacement but has remained closed because a grant of roughly $5 million from the State Transportation Improvement Program was not scheduled to be released until 2023.
The town will receive nearly $14 million to replace the Division Street bridge. MassDOT also closed that span in 2018 but it remains open for pedestrians and bicyclists. The state had deemed the bridge “structurally deficient” after a July 2018 inspection revealed deteriorated steel stringers.
The town had already approved a $4 million bond for temporary repairs, which MassDOT later said was out of the question. The money was redirected toward a temporary truss that will cost approximately the same amount and will be installed by this summer, while construction on a permanent replacement was expected to start in about five years. Will the announcement of the funds this week affect the Division Street plan?
“We have discussed this a few times,” Great Barrington Department of Public Works Superintendent Sean VanDeusen told The Edge in a text message. “It means the bridge design work will start for MassDOT to replace that bridge in the next five or so years, maybe a little longer. It will have no effect on the work we are doing.”
The town also received $10.1 million to replace the span formerly known as the Brown Bridge connecting Main Street with State Road. Oddly, that bridge, which is now painted a reddish pink, received a $1.6 million repair completed only last year.
A complete list of South County roads and bridges slated for repair or replacement was tweeted out by state Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox):
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will deliver billions in funding to the Commonwealth, helping to build on the investments our administration has made over the past seven years to improve our roads and bridges, and make our public transportation system more reliable and resilient,” Baker said at the announcement.
Baker said the $1.1 billion new-formula bridge funding, coupled with the state’s $1.25 billion Next Generation Bridge program and other funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will allow MassDOT to spend over $3 billion repairing the state’s bridges, addressing more than one-third of the structurally deficient bridge backlog.
Below is the complete list of projects receiving funding, as compiled by State House News:
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Adams: Quality Street over the Hoosic River – $4,584,860
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Alford: West Road over the Scribner Brook – $1,742,308
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Becket: Quarry Road over the Cushman Brook – $2,015,750
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Cheshire: Sand Mill Road over the Dry Brook – $1,920,760
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Great Barrington: Division Street over the Housatonic River – $13,959,767
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Great Barrington: Cottage Street over the Housatonic River – $3,850,010
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Great Barrington: State Road over the Housatonic River – $10,109,566
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Lanesborough: Bridge Street over the Town Brook – $2,005,593
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Lee: Meadow Street over the Powder Mill Brook – $1,357,733
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Lee: Mill Street over the Washington Mountain Brook – $1,140,700
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Monterey: Curtis Road over the Konkapot River – $992,508
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New Marlborough: Keyes Hill Road over the Umpachene River – $2,082,079
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North Adams: Route 2 over the the Hoosic River – $17,769,440
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North Adams: Brown Street over the Hoosic River – $945,192
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Pittsfield: Wahconah Street over the West Branch Housatonic River – $4,956,034
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Pittsfield: Pontoosuc Avenue over the West Branch Housatonic River – $2,392,286
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Pittsfield: Holmes Road over the Housatonic Railroad – $2,616,077
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Sheffield: Kelsey Road over the Schnob Brook – $3,552,995
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Tyringham: Jerusalem Road over the Hop Brook – $2,313,250
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Williamstown: Main Street over the Hemlock Brook – $1,888,123
