PHILLIPSTON — In the summer of 2020, much of Route 101 through Phillipston was shut down to allow for resurfacing of the important artery running from Petersham to the Gardner area. Most of the work was finished last year, but in August 2020 an unexpected problem arose regarding the reconstruction of the bridge that spans Wine Brook and the project had to be re-engineered. Work on the bridge finally resumed several weeks ago and plans now call for it to be re-opened sometime within the next week or so.
“Everything was going as planned,” Phillipston Public Works Director Rick Tenney told the Athol Daily News in December, “and then, when they unearthed the foundation side of the bridge — you’ve got what’s called a ‘wing wall’ on each side of the water, basically a U-shaped foundation — they found that the interior wall was tapered; it sloped inward.”
That meant a new plan for the foundation had to be worked out. Tenney said last Friday, April 22, the new plan was completed and work on the span commenced.
“They got a pretty decent head start on it by starting a little bit early,” he said. “They took a gamble with the weather and the weather cooperated for the most part, in and around what they had to do for concrete work.
Tenney said much of the guardrail work had been completed when workers “hit ledge.” Many safety rail systems need to be anchored to a depth of six feet, he explained. Because workers were hitting the ledge at the depth of only about 6 inches, the contractor had to bring a hammer excavator in and bust up the rock.
“That started out pretty good,” he said, “but as they got further away from the bridge it turned into some really strong, hardy ledge that wasn’t breaking too easily. So, there’s an additional cost of probably upwards of $10,000 to $12,000 bucks just to get the rest of the guardrail in, just to bring the hammer excavator in.
“So, that was a little bit of a setback. Right now, where they stand, they’ve got everything busted up so the guardrail work can commence, and I think they’re coming in Wednesday to finish the guardrail. The bridge is paved and waterproofed. They’re also going to do what’s call a plug joint, which is another joint that goes between two concrete pads for expansion and contraction.
Tenney said the contractor hopes to have everything completed and the road re-opened by Friday.
“If it’s not done Friday, we would be looking at Monday, Tuesday of the following week,” he continued. “I was anticipating the middle of May anyway, so we’re still ahead of schedule. But it’s come out very well; everything looks good. It’s close enough that we can finally see an end date.”
Tenney said the final push to get the bridge — and thereby the road project — completed began around March 15.
“They were originally shooting for the very beginning of March, but I think it had to get pushed back a week because of some bad weather that came in at the end of that first week. The middle of March was when they got back in there and they hit the ground running.”
Tenney said he can now concentrate more on other road work in Phillipston.
“This whole thing put us in a really good position,” he explained. “We’re in pretty good shape with our roads in town. We’ve got a few main roads that have to be redone, and some small back roads that have to get some work done to them.
“But this section of 101 and this bridge being completed is going to benefit Templeton, Petersham, Phillipston — between emergency personnel, school buses, everyday residents going to work. The detour put them out a few miles and it wasn’t the best-traveled roads they had to go on. This shortens their route, and it will be a nice ride now for everybody.”
The Public Works Director said, “I think Barre Road would be next on my hit list, if we can get it done, and Route 68. And there’s a lot of small roads in town that get overlooked that I’d like to get done, too. But there’s only so much money to go around.”
The Route 101 project cost a total of $1.1 million, all but $100,000 of which was paid for with a MassWorks grant, a program overseen by the state Department of Housing and Economic Development. State Sen. Ann Gobi was able to shake loose another $100,000 in state monies for the project. The bridge work, which cost approximately $680,000, ate up most of that budget.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com