WHATELY – Your morning commute just got longer.

In a letter that startled the Selectboard, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) notified the town of Whately last week that the bridge on Christian Lane must be closed. The pilings holding up the road bed are rotting.

“These look very similar to telephone poles,” said Keith Bardwell, Whately’s Highway Superintendent. “They are pounded into the ground. They’re probably 12 inches in diameter … and where they deteriorated, that’s at the water line … The timber underneath the water, that never sees daylight, those will look as good as the day they put them in. It’s the part that’s above the water line that will go.”

The Selectboard, not quite up to speed about the work Bardwell had already accomplished to smooth the possible snarling of commuter traffic, were most concerned with the impact on the community and on drivers.

“This gave me significant pause,” said Selectboard Chair Jonathan Edwards. “I’m not shocked, I’m nervous. This is not going to only impact Christian Lane traffic, it will also affect Swamp Road too. We are a commuter town, a pass through town, so I get an ache in my Keds from thinking about closing it. So now we have to create a plan.”

A visual inspection by Bardwell revealed that the problem is among the north side pilings. The south side pilings also have problems. The piling most to the south and east looks splintered, with soil inside it. A plant is growing out from between the splinters. A piling on the south side, and central, also shows tendrils growing out from between deep splits in the wood.

The cost of repairs, still unknown, also made Town Hall nervous.

“I hate to estimate how much it costs, but bridges aren’t cheap,” said Brian Domina, Whately’s town administrator. “The town has little debt, so it’s in good shape to deal with this.”

“It’s going to be 10 times what we can afford, so we will have to get aid from someone else,” said Selectboard member Joyce Palmer-Fortune. “Keeping it one lane is the best option for local traffic. [But] if there’s a lot of money right now, for infrastructure…how can we get this done the fastest?”

Domina had apprised the Board that MassDOT had determined that only one lane needed to be closed. The third board member, Fred Baron, added that because the bridge has clean sightlines in both directions on Christian Lane MassDOT did not require a stop-and-go light or traffic signage.

“We will have a 12-foot travel lane, so there’ll be a sign to that effect,” Baron said, “and they’re recommending the weight sign doesn’t change.”

“Which doesn’t make sense,” Edwards said.

“Unless the bridge is weak on one side,” Baron replied.

The shock having worn off the board Domina, the town coordinator, turned the discussion toward a response. He noted that Bardwell was getting signs together and had already positioned several jersey barriers near the east end, addressing the physical necessities of reducing the bridge to one lane.

“Right now we have to figure out what steps we need to take, the condition of the bridge, and whether it’s a repair or a replacement,” Domina said. “It may take some money to hire an engineer, I don’t know.”

“If we’re going to be told what to do, I’d rather be pro-active,” Edwards said. “I want to make sure we do everything possible to tell people that the road is becoming a 1-lane road. We need to publicize it.”

Bardwell, Highway Department head, after the meeting voiced some concern with the current messaging. He sought to ease the fears of residents.

“In my mind, there’s no closure at the bridge, they’re just reducing it to one lane,” he said. “I don’t like the language they put up on the website. It seems like they’re telling people to seek alternate ways to travel. If you’re able to drive it today, the worst thing you might have to do is wait for a car to get out of your way.”

Bardwell had no information yet on what repairs are necessary, what will be allowed by MassDOT, and any costs involved. He estimated that reducing the Christian Lane bridge to one lane will be accomplished well before Oct. 15, the date the town is required to inform the state of what it has decided to do about the bridge.

“Right now I’m waiting on signs,” Bardwell said. “I anticipate it being done by Oct. 8.”