$10M West Hawley Road Bridge upgrade planned for 2026 in Charlemont

The state Department of Transportation is planning a $10 million upgrade to the West Hawley Road Bridge on Route 8A in Charlemont over the Deerfield River. The existing bridge has numerous potholes, the roadway does not meet modern design standards, there are no pedestrian or cyclist accommodations, and the design impacts the flow of the Deerfield River.

The state Department of Transportation is planning a $10 million upgrade to the West Hawley Road Bridge on Route 8A in Charlemont over the Deerfield River. The existing bridge has numerous potholes, the roadway does not meet modern design standards, there are no pedestrian or cyclist accommodations, and the design impacts the flow of the Deerfield River. FOR THE RECORDER/SAM FERLAND

From left, standing, Christian D’Annuzio, designer and project manager from C&C Consulting Engineers, and Harry May, C&C designer and consulting engineer, share details of a planned upgrade to the West Hawley Road Bridge on Route 8A in Charlemont during a hearing at Hawlemont Regional School on July 11.

From left, standing, Christian D’Annuzio, designer and project manager from C&C Consulting Engineers, and Harry May, C&C designer and consulting engineer, share details of a planned upgrade to the West Hawley Road Bridge on Route 8A in Charlemont during a hearing at Hawlemont Regional School on July 11. FOR THE RECORDER/SAM FERLAND

By SAM FERLAND

For the Recorder

Published: 07-16-2024 2:11 PM

Modified: 07-17-2024 6:29 PM


CHARLEMONT — The state Department of Transportation is planning a $10 million upgrade to the West Hawley Road Bridge on Route 8A over the Deerfield River that officials say 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 to answer questions from residents. Officials explained the existing bridge has reached the end of its functional lifespan. There are numerous potholes, the roadway does not meet modern design standards, there are no pedestrian or cyclist accommodations, and the design impacts the flow of the Deerfield River.

“The roadway condition doesn’t meet design standards,” said C&C Consulting Engineers Designer and Project Manager Christian D’Annunzio. “There is no pedestrian accommodation, there’s 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 the bridge, so we’d like to improve that for the town.”

By comparison, the new bridge is designed to be 10 inches wider, providing a total 34-foot-wide roadway, including a sidewalk on the eastern side and a two-way, 5-foot-wide bicycle lane. Two-foot-wide safety buffers will be included, giving extra space to separate cyclists from passing vehicles on the two 10-foot-wide lanes.

The new bridge will be approximately 500 feet long and will be elevated higher than the current bridge to provide more space for water flow from the Deerfield River, which has been subject to flooding on multiple occasions. The West Hawley Road Bridge often catches debris during flooding events.

During construction, only the southbound lane will be open to traffic. Northbound traffic will be detoured approximately 2 miles via Tower Road.

Charlemont resident Lora Fulton, who lives on West Hawley Road (Route 8A), expressed concern that driving speeds will increase on Tower Road due to detoured traffic during construction.

“The last time the bridge was out, there was a lot of speeding on that road,” Fulton commented.

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Town Administrator Sarah Reynolds passed along comments she had heard from other residents and suggested ways to reduce speeding on Tower Road, such as installing additional signs.

Kristie Faufaw, who owns Cold River Package & Market on Route 2, raised concerns that construction would decrease the number of customers coming from Berkshire East Mountain Resort who typically bring business to the stores in town.

“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 there will still be pedestrian access to cross the bridge during construction. Although it is not clear if any abutting properties will be affected at the moment, concerns were raised by West Hawley Road resident Alice Fulton about the potential impact to abutting properties.

Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) Director of Planning Jessica Atwood raised the issue of how construction might affect people who use the Deerfield River recreationally.

“The Deerfield River is very popular for whitewater rafting and tubing, particularly from May to October when the dam releases water for those recreational purposes,” Atwood explained. “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 mentioned at the meeting and incorporate those considerations into future planning and design work.

Bridge construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2026 and finish by 2031. A design meeting will be held next spring to hear more from the public and get the project approved by the MassDOT Project Review Committee.

“This is very preliminary right now,” MassDOT District 1 Bridge Engineer Mark Devylder said about the project’s timeline. “I think we’re probably in the range of four years. We will look at accelerated construction techniques.”

Additional project inquiries can be emailed to MassDOTProjectManagement@dot.state.ma.us.