PETERSHAM – At its meeting on Jan. 12, Petersham’s Selectboard awarded the contract for reconstruction of the Quaker Drive Bridge to a Westfield firm.

The bridge was ordered closed by order of the state Dept. of Transportation. The low bid to replace the span over Mocassin Brook was submitted by A.J. Virgilio Construction, which said the work could be done for just under $827,000. Petersham Highway Department Superintendent Greg Waid said a total of seven bids were submitted.

Waid told the board the work would be done without the need for taxpayer monies. He said the town’s engineering firm, Tighe & Bond, also headquartered in Westfield, had landed a $500,000 Municipal Small Bridge Program grant to help cover the cost. The balance, he said, would be covered by other state funds, including Chapter 90 monies set aside to help pay for the project.

Waid added that Virgilio does a lot of bridge work on behalf of the state. He said the company anticipates work on the bridge, which will be fabricated, to be completed by November of this year.

“They actually have to buy the bridge, and it has to be made,” he said. “And the company that makes them also has some testing they need to do on guardrails for DOT. So, they think it’s going to take a little while before they get going in the spring, but once the bridge comes in, I think the work will be done pretty quick.”

Waid told the Athol Daily News, “I want to say the bridge has been closed for two years, three years now. The state closed it and they’re going to tear out the old bridge and replace it with a new prefabricated bridge. It was the support beams on the bridge deck itself that were deteriorating.”

Though replacement of the bridge has taken some time, Waid said the area served by the span is sparsely populated. Quaker Drive runs from north to south between East Street and Route 122.

“Hall Road is up there with the Hall Farm,” said Waid, “That’s the only thing up there. Then there are a lot of hiking trails up there. There is access in there off of 122 and 32. That’s usually closed during the winter, but we’ve had to keep that open during the winter for about three years.”

The state is also undertaking a $2.3 million replacement of the Glen Valley Road Bridge over the Swift River in Petersham. Funding for that project was included in a $3 billion infrastructure improvement plan announced by then-Gov. Charlie Baker last February. The spending package targeted the replacement or improvement of nearly 150 bridges statewide, including the Main Street Bridge over the PanAm Railroad tracks near L.S. Starrett in Athol.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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