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Date: 3/17/2022
SOUTHAMPTON – The East Street Bridge replacement project is set to be finished by the fall, according to Town Administrator Ed Gibson.
“The project itself will end up being late in its completion due to availability of steel,” said Gibson, adding that COVID-19 most likely has something to do with supply issues. “The substantial completion date has been changed from what was June 2022 to September of 2022.”
As of press time, the town is working on cold weather concrete pours on the two abutments of the bridge, the east and west. While there has been some cold weather over the past couple months, Gibson said that construction went well since the amount of snow was minimal. Despite there being a couple of hiccups along the way, Gibson told Reminder Publishing that the crew is still working on the timeline they expected.
Aside from the town’s goals for construction, Gibson said that Verizon was supposed to move some cables around in early winter but are instead now taking care of that this month. “There’s been no major delays at this time, other than the actual availability of supplies of steel,” he added.
Replacement of this bridge is part of the larger effort to completely reconstruct East Street, according to Gibson. In November 2021, the bridge had to be closed to remove gas, electric, phone, and water lines from the bridge before its demolition. Construction in the winter included excavation and backfill of abutments, installation of piling, pouring of new abutments and wing walls and stabilization of bridge slopes.
The replacement of the bridge itself, according to Gibson, cost $2.6 million in total with $1 million coming from a MassWorks grant, which is a statewide program that assists with the long-term sustainability of municipalities across Massachusetts. The other $1.6 million came from a debt exclusion that was approved during the Annual Town Meeting in 2019. The town also applied to the state’s Transportation Improvement Program to try and acquire funding for the entire East Street project, which costs around $4 million.
Gibson told Reminder Publishing that drivers will have a “smoother ride” across the new bridge compared to the older one. Additionally, the new bridge will be wider and will have a combined bike/pedestrian sidewalk on it which will lead into the rest of the East Street upgrade.
“The idea at the time was that we’d be able to, when East Street gets done, to utilize at the Route 10 section a bike/pedestrian combination so anybody riding on Route 10 will be able to go that way and get over to Labrie Field,” said Gibson.
The town is also in the process of acquiring the right-of-way from the Pioneer Valley Railroad to develop the Greenway bike/pedestrian path, which will connect with the Manhan Rail Trail and Easthampton.
Throughout the rest of winter and spring months, the bridge deck will be poured, steel railings will be installed, end posts and approach slabs will be poured, and the bridge deck membrane will be applied. According to Gibson, pavement of East Street will immediately occur following the bridge completion.
Southampton has been talking about replacing the bridge and making improvements on East Street since 2009, well before Gibson arrived in Southampton.