HVA Makes Culvert Replacement, River Restoration Projects Possible for 3 Berkshire Towns
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Housatonic Valley Association has provided key funding and technical support, enabling the towns of Egremont, Great Barrington and Richmond to secure vital construction funding for projects that will alleviate local flooding concerns while enhancing wildlife habitat connectivity throughout Berkshire County.
Over $2.7 million was awarded to the three towns from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Community Culvert Grant Program in June.
More than half of all culverts in Berkshire County, built to channel river and stream water under public roadways, are undersized or outdated, which leads to flooding, stated a press release. In addition to increased risk of damage to local infrastructure, failing culverts tend to inhibit the natural movement of native fish like the Eastern Brook Trout. MassDOT's Community Culvert Grant Program provides funding to municipalities for projects that replace or update structures that specifically lie in public ways and directly impact the local community.
Expertise that resides within HVA secured pre-construction funding and helping towns identify priority culvert replacement projects based on structural integrity, flooding concerns and the potential to reconnect habitat so that fish and wildlife can travel freely beneath the roadway. HVA secured grant funding to support data collection, engineering design, ecological and cultural resource assessments and permitting for these planned culvert projects. The result will be the replacement of three undersized pipe culverts with open-bottom box culverts that will accommodate flood waters and enable native fish and other wildlife species to move across their full range of habitat.
"We're happy for our municipal partners that these projects—identified as critical for community safety, stream restoration, and climate resiliency—are moving forward to construction," said Erik Reardon, HVA's Berkshire Watershed Director.
The Town of Egremont received $1.03 million for construction of an open-bottom box culvert on Blunt Road to replace an undersized culvert classified as a "significant barrier" to the movement of aquatic organisms in Marsh Brook, according to a North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative (NAACC) survey. Replacing this barrier will help reconnect a tributary stream that drains into Marsh Pond and continues south toward Karner Brook Wildlife Management Area.
"The Town of Egremont is grateful for the Housatonic Valley Association's assistance in creating the Culvert Survey that allowed us to prioritize our culverts and obtain funding for the necessary engineering study that led to receiving over $1 million in funding for the Blunt Road culvert reconstruction," says David Seligman, Chairman of the Egremont Conservation Commission.
Great Barrington received $925,000 to replace an undersized culvert at Brush Hill Road, which crosses over an unnamed stream south of Brookside Pond.
"The Town of Great Barrington is proud to work alongside the Housatonic Valley Association to advance projects that strengthen our infrastructure while enhancing the health of our natural environment," said Liz Hartsgrove, Great Barrington's Town Manager. "The Brush Hill Road culvert replacement represents an investment in safety, climate resilience and environmental stewardship, ensuring that our roads, waterways and wildlife habitats remain connected and sustainable for years to come. We are grateful for HVA's partnership and their ongoing commitment to helping communities turn long-term challenges into lasting opportunities."
The Town of Richmond received $771,000 to replace a culvert at Sleepy Hollow Road, which will remove a significant barrier to fish passage and reconnect the convergence of Sleepy Hollow Brook, Fairfield Brook and Cone Brook.
HVA works to progress important river connectivity projects throughout the tri-state Housatonic River watershed. A regional watershed organization and land trust with an office in Pittsfield, HVA also coordinates the Berkshire Clean, Cold & Connected River Restoration Partnership, which makes large-scale ecological restoration work possible through the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration's Regional Restoration Partnerships Program.
