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Stockbridge set to close Glendale Middle Road Bridge down to one lane

Traffic diversion is expected to last at least three years until the repair is concluded.

Stockbridge — Glendale Middle Road neighbors turned out to the Select Board’s February 8 meeting to hear the fate of their local bridge after the Massachusetts Department of Transportation recommended the structure be closed or limited to one alternating lane. And, they got their answer as members unanimously agreed to move forward with amending the bridge to a single lane while approving a feasibility study that will mark the start of the structure’s approximately three-year repair process.

At the meeting, Town Administrator Michael Canales said he received a telephone call on February 5 from MassDOT advising him that the agency would be closing the Glendale Middle Road Bridge because the structure has two beams beneath it that are in “poor condition.” The Select Board was given the option to either close the bridge or limit it to one lane, with alternating traffic.

In 2020, the board had reviewed town bridge reports including the Glendale Middle Road Bridge, as well as the Tuckerman’s Bridge, Canales said. Since the Tuckerman’s Bridge, built circa 1928, was in worse condition, the group began efforts to repair that structure, with the idea that the Glendale structure would follow once renovations were complete, he said. However, that didn’t turn out to be the case as the Glendale bridge will require the repair process to begin sooner rather than later, with the Tuckerman’s Bridge repairs estimated to be put out to bid in the summer of 2025, Canales said. “At that time, this [Glendale] bridge was lowly ranked, also [it] was the Tuckerman that had a critical failure on it,” he said. “Even though I say, ‘critical failure,’ it’s still safe to drive over.” The Tuckerman’s bridge weight limits were lowered while the engineering work proceeded on the structure.

A car travels down the Glendale Middle Road Bridge in Stockbridge on Feb. 6. Two days later, the Stockbridge Select Board approved decreasing the bridge to one alternating lane following a notice from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation that the structure requires repairs. Photo by Leslee Bassman.

Canales said he met with representatives of the town’s fire, police, highway, and sewer departments who concurred on the Glendale bridge’s one lane recommendation. He said he would submit an action plan to MassDOT on February 9 for the bridge lanes to be scaled down. The measure will entail adding lights and barricades to keep vehicles off the lane that isn’t in use, as well as revising the bridge signage to new tonnage requirements, Canales said. Local businesses using the structure will be notified of the change. According to Canales, the town’s fire trucks have been weighed, and a waiver will be requested for those vehicles to use the bridge in emergency operations.

James Monroe, who owns a home on Glendale Middle Road, clarified that an alternating light system will be in place to instruct vehicles across the bridge when it is reduced to one lane and a Housatonic Railroad Company representative addressed the Select Board as to the timing of that light system to ensure vehicles are kept from stopping on the rail tracks.

Yale Court resident Bob Van Olst asked if federal or state monies could assist in the repair costs, with Canales responding that he will apply for agency funding, but he said, “at this point, we don’t know what the costs are or anything else, and I need all of that in order to apply.”

Select Board member Patrick White explained that the project has three stages of funding: the feasibility study that was authorized at the session, engineering of the bridge to be approved at town meeting, and the construction work that also must be voted on by town residents. “Certainly, we’re going to apply for anything we can get,” he said.

Susan Van Olst, also a Yale Court resident, asked about the project’s schedule.

With an anticipated timeline of two to two-and-a-half months and $30,000 cost, the feasibility study will provide repair options for the bridge, with the preferred option and that cost to ultimately go before voters at a town meeting, Canales said. The study will include a comprehensive review of the structure, he said. The engineering portion of the project could take up to 18 months to complete and includes a state review, which could push that timeline to up to two years “before you’re ready to go out and actually make the repairs,” Canales said. “Even in the best of conditions, you’re probably looking at maybe the construction ceases in the summer of [20]27,” he said.

Chair Ernest J. Cardillo added, “It’s not an overnight fix.”

Canales said the town’s bridge account will be used to cover this portion of the project.

“So, we’re going to be dealing with this for a while,” Susan Van Olst concluded.

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