CHESHIRE, Mass. — The town is hoping to start the reconstruction of the West Mountain Road bridge in April. 

 

The steel culvert, which carries West Mountain Road over Kitchen Brook, has several structural and erosion-related issues, including cracking, rusting, minor wall displacement, sinkholes, partially failed and dulled galvanized coating, roadway settlement, and signs of leakage. 

 

According to the state Structures Inspection Field Report from January 2025, the structure is a single-barrel corrugated steel arch with an open bottom supporting fill with an asphalt wearing surface.

 

The town was previously awarded a small municipal bridge grant to cover the engineering costs, which was done by Gill Engineering.

 

The town was again awarded another bridge grant for the reconstruction project, anticipated to cost $770,518, with the bid being awarded to CD Davenport of Greenfield. 

 

According to the plans from Gill Engineering, the project will include repairing the bridge's foundation, reinforcing the sides of the crossing, rebuilding the road surface, and adding new guardrails and drainage. 

 

During excavation, the contractors will take "extreme care" not to damage the existing corrugated steel culvert. To prevent unbalanced loading, they will remove equal amounts of fill from both sides simultaneously.