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Traffic flows unimpeded in both directions Monday morning on a Main Street bridge in Williamstown. The halt in construction of the new bridge is to allow utilities to move their equipment.

No Unplanned Interruption in Williamstown Bridge Project

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Despite appearances, work on a Main Street bridge replacement has not been suspended or fallen behind schedule, a town official confirmed on Monday.
 
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is replacing the span that carries Main Street (Route 2) traffic over the Green River on the east side of town.
 
At the outset, MassDOT said the replacement project would go into 2026.
 
With active construction at the site slowed in recent weeks, some have speculated that the project has been paused.
 
On Monday, Town Manager Robert Menicocci explained why there is no road work at the moment.
 
"Right now the project is in the phase where each utility has 90 days to complete their work related to relocating utilities, and then work on the other lane will resume," Menicocci wrote in an email to iBerkshires.com.
 
Menicocci said there are four different utilities moving their infrastructure at the site.
 
This weekend, a social media post hypothesized that Northern Construction, the general contractor on the bridge project, had "taken out" its building materials from the site.
 
The post may have been referring to the fact that material was moved from one section of a lot owned by the Williamstown Fire District to another part of the district's parcel.
 
At the outset of the bridge project, the district entered into an agreement with Northern to use part of its parcel on the north side of Main Street, just east of the bridge to store materials.
 
This summer, with work planned to get underway prepping the site for a new fire station, the district asked Northern to relocate its material to a back corner of the same property, an area that happens to be less visible from the road.

Tags: bridge work,   

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Concerns Over PFAS Spark Sewage Debate in Williamstown

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff

The composting facility at the intermunicipal wastewater plant is operating at about two-thirds capacity. 
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Forever chemicals are the source of a protracted debate for the Select Board.
 
Out of 15 fiscal articles on the warrant for the annual town meeting in May, the board last Monday voted to recommend passage of 14.
 
It delayed its decision on Article 5, which concerns the budget for the sewer department, more specifically the town's share of operating costs for the Hoosac Water Quality District.
 
Some members of the community, including a member of the Select Board, say the district is choosing a course of action that is at odds with the environmental principles that the town espouses.
 
The HWQD is a 55-year-old intermunicipal entity shared by Williamstown and the city of North Adams.
 
Residents of both communities on public sewer service send their wastewater to a treatment facility in Williamstown off Simonds Road (Route 7).
 
The facility cleans and treats the wastewater and discharges it into the nearby Hoosic River.
 
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