Great Barrington – The Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), in partnership with the Town of Great Barrington, has produced a Road-Stream Crossing Management Plan that identifies the highest priority road-stream crossing replacement projects in Great Barrington.
This document is a guide for how road infrastructure projects should be designed to alleviate stream flooding and to ensure aquatic wildlife corridors are improved. Project funding is provided by the Housatonic River NRD Trustees and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
HVA and the town invite public comment on this plan until August 31, 2022. The drafts are available in hard copy only, at Town Hall in the Planning Department at 334 Main St. and at both Mason Library, 231 Main St. and Ramsdell Library, 1087 Main St., Housatonic.
Road-stream crossings are intersections of roads and streams. They are places where streams are directed under roads, using culverts or bridges.
“For both people and animals, these intersections are critically important, especially where full streams can erode, wash out or otherwise damage roads and infrastructure, and where roads can interrupt the routes of aquatic animals that use the streams to live and migrate,” said Chris Rembold, assistant town manager and director of community planning and development. “As you review the information, keep some questions in mind: Which streams regularly flood the road? Has water over the road or other crossing failure blocked access to essential services? If not, are there crossings where failure would block access for essential services?”
Rembold encourages the community to review this document and provide any comments by August 31. The Select Board will then vote to adopt or amend it, and it will then be included as part of the town’s Hazard Mitigation and Climate Change Adaptation Plan.
Comments can be e-mailed to Chris Rembold in the Town’s Planning Department, at crembold@townofgb.org.
