The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is planning a $10 million upgrade to the West Hawley Road Bridge over the Deerfield River in Charlemont, a small community in the eastern Berkshire Mountains.
The Greenfield Recorder reported July 16 that transportation officials believe the work, along Mass. Route 8A/West Hawley Road, will improve safety and pedestrian access.
Ahead of construction, which is expected to begin in the fall of 2026, representatives of MassDOT's Highway Division held a hearing on July 11 to explain the preliminary construction plans and answer questions from Charlemont residents.
Engineers explained that the existing bridge has reached the end of its functional lifespan. In addition, it has numerous potholes, and its current design negatively impacts the flow of the Deerfield River.
"The roadway condition doesn't meet design standards," said Christian D'Annunzio, a designer and project manager of C&C Consulting Engineers LLC in Boston. "There is no pedestrian accommodation [and] no bike lanes, but we know from talking with people in town that some people like to walk on this bridge and fish off of [it], so we'd like to improve that for the town."
The new span is designed to be 10 in. wider, providing a total 34-ft.-wide roadway, including a sidewalk on the eastern side and a two-way, 5-ft.-wide bicycle lane, the Recorder noted. Moreover, 2-ft.-wide safety buffers will be constructed to separate cyclists from passing vehicles on the two 10-ft.-wide lanes.
A new and improved Mass. 8A/West Hawley Road bridge is designed to be approximately 500 ft. in length and will be elevated higher than the current span to provide more space for water flow from the Deerfield River, which has been subjected to flooding on multiple occasions. The existing structure often catches debris racing down the river during high water events.
Town Residents Voiced Opinions at Meeting
Once construction gets under way at the site, only the southbound lane will be open to traffic, while northbound traffic will be detoured approximately 2 mi. via Tower Road.
Charlemont resident Lora Fulton, who lives on Mass. 8A/West Hawley Road, attended the July 11 meeting, where she expressed concern that driving speeds will increase on Tower Road due to the detoured traffic during the project.
"The last time the bridge was out, there was a lot of speeding on that road," she told the Greenfield news source.
Sarah Reynolds, Charlemont's town administrator, noted that she had heard from a number of community residents who had suggestions on ways to reduce speeding on Tower Road, such as installing additional signs.
Kristie Faufaw, who owns Cold River Package & Market on Mass. Route 2, spoke up to say she worries that the bridge construction could decrease the number of customers coming from nearby Berkshire East Mountain Resort. Vacationers at the resort typically bring business to the stores in town, she added.
"[In] the eight weeks that the state did repairs last fall, we noticed a big downtick in bikers and campers coming off of Berkshire East into town," Faufaw explained.
D'Annunzio responded by saying that plans call for pedestrian access to be provided in order to cross the bridge during the structural upgrades.
Concerns also were raised by Alice Fulton, who lives along West Hawley Road, about the potential impact to properties like hers that border the street, although it is not clear at the moment if any of those properties will be affected.
Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) Director of Planning Jessica Atwood also was on hand. She raised the issue of how construction might affect people who use the Deerfield River recreationally.
"The [river] is very popular for whitewater rafting and tubing, particularly from May to October when the dam releases water for those recreational purposes," she commented, before asking: "Are there any impacts to those tubers and kayakers going down the river at those times during construction?"
The MassDOT Highway Division intends to take the ideas and concerns expressed at the meeting and incorporate them into future planning and design work, the Recorder noted.
The Mass. Route 8A/West Hawley Road Bridge construction is expected to last about 5 years, with a targeted completion set for 2031.
"This is very preliminary right now," MassDOT District 1 Bridge Engineer Mark Devylder said in regard to the project's timeline. "I think we're probably [more] in the range of four years. We will look at accelerated construction techniques."
The Greenfield newspaper learned that another design meeting will be held next spring to hear more from the public and get the project approved by the MassDOT Project Review Committee.
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