WILBRAHAM – A $2.2 million state funded project to repair East Street Bridge, which serves as a crossroads for the communities of Wilbraham, Ludlow, and Palmer, is about to begin and is slated to be completed by November.

Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Edmond Miga Jr. told Reminder Publications the bid for the project was awarded to Stow-based general contractor E T & L Construction Corporation, which was approved by the state.

“As far as I know, they’re mobilizing out there as we speak,” he explained. “An office trailer has been brought to the site and they’re starting to gear up to start work. It was relayed to me that they have until November of this year to complete the project, but the E T & L personnel that we [met] with indicated that they would probably be done before November. We’re looking forward to a good summer project.”

The bridge has remained closed for almost two years after failing an inspection, Miga said. Officials closed the bridge on March 23, 2015.

He added temporary shoring held the bridge up for the past five years at the time, but it was found that the concrete was deteriorating underneath, noting, “It wasn’t safe to drive on anymore – not with the truckloads that we see.”

“There is a major detour because the bridge is closed,” he noted. “It’s a big inconvenience for the people, for sure, but it’ll remain closed until hopefully before November.”

The work to rehabilitate the bridge includes lifting the structure and installing temporary shoring underneath it to repair the abutment, Miga said.

“That’s a major portion of the bridge,” he noted. “The middle abutment that’s actually in the water down below – that’ll require building some access roads to get down into the river to get the rock that they’re going armor the abutment with in place. So, naturally that will be done during low flow. And then there’s all the additional work that needs to be done on the upper part of the bridge – sidewalk, railing. So, they’ll be bringing in a big crane to do this work.”

Miga said due to the bridge’s closure the project became more of a priority on a list of roadwork projects across the state.

“Originally it was earmarked for around $1 million for the work to be done and after they went in and did an evaluation of it – it’s now a $2 million project,” he added. “It’s a lot more work than they anticipated, for sure.”

The process to start the project has been a longtime in the making, Miga said.

“I have to credit Michael Clark, [State] Senator [Eric] Lesser’s aid, he was really instrumental in getting attention to the project and getting it to the point where we could bring it out to bid,” he explained.