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| Senator Moore reports on the progress of Rice City Pond Bridge repairs |
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January 12, 2005 - In an effort to continue to push for early completion of repairs to the Rice City Pond dam on East Hartford Avenue in Uxbridge, Senator Richard T. Moore (D-Uxbridge) has urged the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Office of Dam Safety to keep the repair project on schedule for a mid-January re-opening. “I am pleased with the progress of the repair project,” said Senator Moore. “Both DCR and MassHighway have demonstrated a genuine commitment to addressing the major structural issues with both the dam and roadway. I am hopeful they will have the emergency repairs completed in the coming weeks.” Almost a month after Senator Moore brought key officials together to discuss the Rice City Pond dam and bridge repairs, Bill Salomaa, Director of the state’s Office of Dam Safety reported that “the job is moving along quite well.” According to Salomaa, most of the embankment stabilization repair is complete. Depending on the weather conditions, paving of the road should begin on Friday, January 13, 2006. Following the paving, the contractor will do some landscaping, cleanup and demobilization. The contractor’s expected completion date is Monday, January 16th and the road should be opened for traffic by January 20th. Last October, extensive rain caused such serious damage to the Rice City Pond dam that safety officials ordered the portion of East Hartford Avenue above 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. In December, Senator Moore convened a meeting with officials from DCR, MassHighway and the town of Uxbridge to get an assurance to reopen the roadway as quickly as possible and discuss long-term repairs for the dam. At that time, DCR Deputy Commissioner of Planning and Engineering Karst Hoogeboom stated that a major overhaul of the dam was already scheduled prior to the flooding and DCR has now accelerated its plans, which should be completed in the next three to five years. For more information on Senator Moore’s work in the Senate, visit his web site at senatormoore.com |
