PLAINFIELD – Select board members signed off on plans for new bridges over Great Brook at Mill Street and Brook Road at their October 14 meeting. The Mill Street bridge washed out in 2024 and the Brook Road bridge trapped debris, flooding the village.
Plans for replacement bridges presented by Brian Breslin with the Dubois & King engineering firm, show much larger bridges, which will be raised by several feet and have longer spans to allow greater volumes of water and debris to pass under them. They are recommending concrete bridges in both places.
The Brook Road bridge is proposed to increase from a length of 24 feet to 55 feet, with the road to be raised by two or three feet.
Details of the bridge replacements still need to be worked out, with easements needed from nearby property owners and decisions about whether to replace the bridges one at a time, or together, with detours or temporary bridges, left to be made.
Costs are estimated at $2 to $4 million for each bridge, with the federal government covering 80% of the cost, the state covering 10%, leaving 10% for the town to pick up.
Joshua Pitts, town treasurer, said Plainfield received $200,000 in recent reimbursements for flood response work. More is on the way, which will make the matching funds available when they are needed.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
