Commuters hoping for a faster rush hour trip from Amherst to Northampton across the Coolidge Bridge will have to wait just a few more years.
The Massachusetts Highway Department announced Feb. 7 that the contract to rehabilitate the bridge has been awarded to Cianboro Corporation of Pittsfield, Maine. The project will begin this spring, and should be completed by summer of 2003.
The Coolidge Bridge will be widened to four lanes of traffic, have its deck replaced and get a new cantilevered sidewalk. Cianboro Corporation submitted a bid of $19.8 million.
According to officials, at least two lanes of traffic will be open at all times. The contract for an Intelligent Transportation System has already been awarded to L’C Flashing Barricades, Inc. of Avon, Massachusetts. In this particular case, the ITS involves the installation of two closed circuit cameras at approaches to the bridge in Northampton and Hadley, and one camera at the Sunderland Bridge.
The system allows State Police and the MassHighway regional office in Northampton to monitor traffic remotely. They can set the timing of traffic signals, and program electronic variable message signs to direct drivers to alternative routes if necessary. The system is also meant to aid emergency vehicles crossing the bridge.
L’C submitted the low bid of $1,731,569. Work on the ITS is scheduled to be completed by the time work on the bridge begins.
According to Doug Cope, MassHighway public affairs director, the Coolidge Bridge project has been discussed for years, prompted by the bridge’s condition and the increase of traffic in the area. Weekend events at local c
olleges also cause heavy traffic on the bridge.
The project, he said, combined with the widening of a mile of Route 9 in Hadley, should produce a marked improvement in traffic. The Route 9 project will begin in 2002.
The MassHighway Board of Commissioners has the final say on contract bids. Matthew J. Amorello is the head of the board.
Roads Corp. of North Billerica, Massachusetts, submitted the original low bid of $19,645,845 for the bridge project, but were rejected upon review. It was discovered that the company was not qualified to bid more than $15 million.
Bidding for the Coolidge Bridge contract opened on Sep. 30, 2000 and the project has an estimated cost of $14.9 million.
According to MassHighway, the Coolidge Bridge project is part of an effort by the Cellucci/Swift Administration to spend more than $700 million a year on road and bridge spending over the next five years. The amount does not include money spent on the Central Artery project – Boston’s Big Dig.
