SUNDERLAND – The usual winter road closures began on Nov. 1, but new cables will make it harder for local ice fisherman to reach their spot.

“Cranberry Pond, last year we had some issues with cars being stuck down on the hill, the steep side of it, the railroad track side of it,” Highway Superintendent George Emory told the Selectboard. “I was wondering if we could close that section off, either with a barricade or a cable of some sort, from the top and the bottom.”

Emory detailed that many vehicles get stuck near the pond. Fishermen drive their vehicles through the snow drifts at the intersection of Reservation Road and Route 63, continue down to the pond, then attempt to exit by driving northwesterly on Reservation Road. Many get stuck, hit something hidden under the snow, and necessitate a call to the Sunderland or Leverett Police Department.

“Can we legally do that?” asked Town Administrator Geoffrey Kravitz of closing Reservation Road.

“If the road isn’t maintained in the winter time we’d have to find out from the Police Department,” Emory replied.

Kravitz discussed closing the roads around the pond with transportation planners at Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG). Reservation Road, which descends to the northern end of the pond, has been closed in past winters. The only caveat voiced by FRCOG planners, according to Kravitz, is that emergency vehicles may need maintained access to the pond. Emory mentioned the Highway Department has been sanding the through-way to the pond in winter’s past.

“The plan that George described, there are no residences, no businesses on that stretch” of the road, Kravitz said. FRCOG “didn’t have any concerns with physically closing the road, as long as there weren’t any objections by emergency responders.”

Selectboard Chair Thomas D. Fydenkevez raised a relevant fact – “That’s not our pond.”

“No,” Emory replied, “UMass owns it. We might have to ask them.”

The Selectboard voted unanimously to close all the roads recommended by Emory, including Reservation Road.

The roads, or portions thereof, closed for the winter include Cemetery, Clark Mountain, Cross Mountain, Ferry, Gunn Cross, Gunn Mountain, Hubbard Hill, Middle Mountain, Mt. Toby Tower Road, North Mountain, Reservation and Reservoir Roads, and Whitmore Cross Road.

A complete list of Sunderland road closures can be found at https://www.townofsunderland.us/highway-department/news/winter-road-closures-2021-2022-season-snow-and-ice-policy.