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Senator Moore reports Rice City Pond Bridge repairs are high priority for state |
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November 14, 2005 - Extensive rain during October caused such serious damage to the East Hartford Avenue portion of the Rice City Pond dam that safety officials ordered it closed. However, the closure of the road to east-west traffic has increased the traffic burden on Route 16 through Uxbridge center, and has added to the transport time for ambulances moving patients from Tri-River Health Center to Milford Regional Medical Center. Senator Richard T. Moore (D-Uxbridge) has contacted both Massachusetts Highway Commissioner Luisa Paeiwonsky and Conservation/Recreation Commissioner Stephen Burrington to expedite the repairs to the dam so that the road can be safely reopened. Mr. Moore accompanied Lt. Governor Kerry Healey and Uxbridge officials on a visit to the dam last Friday to emphasize the importance of the repair project. Officials are working to have the road reopened around the first of the year. Repairs are estimated to cost $400,000 and may be eligible for federal FEMA funding. The earthen dam supporting the road was seriously eroded during the extensive rainfall and will require cutting back much of the embankment to about the mid-point of the road. The project will involve installation of erosion and sediment containment devices, clearing and grubbing of selected trees and brush, construction of a rockfill buttress along the new proposed downstream toe at the downstream slope to the right of the center of the bridge/spillway over to the right of the dam spillway berm. In addition excavation of the damaged embankment from about the center line of the road into the downstream slope to the right of the center of the bridge/spillway. Installation of a geotextile stabilizing fabric, bedding stone, armor stone slope protection and embankment replacement to the right of the center bridge/spillway over to the berm is also planned. Slope repair on both the downstream slope and the upstream slope, loam, seed and mulching of the new slope repairs and restoration of the roadway surface is also included in the repair project. Bid opening for the project will be Friday, November 18th, with expectation that could be on site as early as the week of November 28 – December 2. Depending on weather conditions, the project is expected to take about thirty days to complete. If all goes well, the project could be complete during the first week of 2006. Senator Moore explained that it is essential to reopen the road to traffic before work on Route 16 begins in the next construction season. In the meantime, he and Representative Jennifer Callahan (D-Sutton) are pressing the Romney Administration to begin design on a permanent replacement dam at East Hartford Avenue with a wider road and pedestrian path. A new dam should also include controls to better manage the water flow. For more information on Senator Moore’s current issues, please visit his web site at www.senatormoore.com |
