At long last, covered bridge is taking shape
PEPPERELL - "This is the biggest thing to hit Pepperell in years," Rep. Robert Hargraves said last week as he and DPW Director Robert E. Lee stood on the pedestrian walkway spanning the Nashua River beside the foundation of the covered bridge.
"This should be named 'The Pepperell Covered Bridge,'" he said. "I couldn't agree more," Lee said.
The two watched as S&R Construction workmen placed another section of the plywood covered aluminum framing over the rapidly flowing water to the granitefaced concrete piers that were finished this past summer.
The so called "safeway" is the platform from which construction crews will put together, piece by piece, the giant laminated support beams and underpinnings for the spanning into place. It is, workers explained, the platform from which construction crews will be working.
The 95-foot main support beams arrived by truck from Unadilla Laminated Products facilities in Unadilla, N.Y. last week.
Not far away a giant, red crane slowly swung another section of the safeway toward the lengthening platform. Its extra-wide steel treads rested on thick beams that stretched from Groton Street to the pier closest to Railroad Square. It had taken three days to assemble the vehicle and its supports.
The three foot-thick laminated support beams lay some distance away, carefully covered with heavy plastic to protect them from unsupported exposure to the elements.
"It's not going to take to mid-2010 to finish this, despite (news) reports," Hargraves opined. "They're going to keep going" A recent report quoted Executive Office of Transportation spokesman Adam Hurtubise as estimating project completion won't be until mid-2010 rather than the originally scheduled fall of 2009.
Highway workers on site, none of whom were authorized to speak to the press, said privately that although an estimated completion date is elusive, they will work on the bridge, weather permitting, throughout the winter. Hurtubise reportedly confirmed recently that S&R Construction has submitted a proposal to work long hours through the winter to make up for lost time.
Lee, along with private Pepperell watchdog David Pease, who is taking personal vacation time from work to follow the project, said the initial plan to put the 475,000-pound bridge together and slide it across the river has changed. It will now be reconstructed on site as pieces arrive.
Acquisition of federal and state funding for the project and design has taken more than 10 years. Hargraves and Lee both have been working on the planning process. Lee from his Town Hall office insisting it remain a covered bridge and Hargraves, pushing the funding process along in Boston.
"It was entirely possible that this could have been a roadway over steel beams," Lee said. "The project started about the time I was hired in 1998. This is going to be beautiful."
Lee said the town is also planning to create a scenic view and river access at the upstream mill site, as well as a gravel riverwalk alongside the water downstream. He explained that the Fisheries and Wildlife Department is quite particular about the words used to describe the public access concept.
Lee showed Hargraves how electric lines that once crossed the former Chester A. Waterous Covered bridge had to be moved so construction could take place. That process and the discovery of fresh water mussels had contributed to the project's delay. Lee said the electric lines will be reset into their former location upon completion of construction.
The Pepperell bridge will be the only traffic-bearing covered bridge in Massachusetts. Reconstruction of the 95 foot-long, 47-foot-wide main span involves about 1,800 pieces of glulam (glued wood laminate), 700 pieces of solid timber and 42,000 pieces of steel hardware. It will measure 33 feet from the bottom of the floor beams to the tops of the trusses.
When assembled, a bituminous covering will be placed on top of the wooden roadway. Threaded rods concealed within the wood trusses fastened top and bottom to steel plates will afford a 25-ton weight limit. That might be reduced to 20 tons. Last Saturday at the Fire Department Christmas party, Hargraves reiterated his completion time frame prediction.
"The bridge is coming along. It will take shape during the next few weeks, save the hot top," he said. "I'm finishing 15 years (on Beacon Hill) and a I have more than a year to go. You'll always have our support in Boston."
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