Gilbertville Covered bridge Reconstruction Gets Go-ahead Vote

WGN MA-08-04/NH-14-01

 

Hardwick, Mass., December 9, 2008 - Voters at a special town meeting held Monday, December 8, approved obtaining temporary easements to clear the way for the state to put the $3.3 million Gilbertville Covered Bridge restoration project out to bid later this month. Work on the bridge is to begin this spring.

Similar easements were recently approved in neighboring Ware, New Hampshire. The 137-foot Gilbertville bridge was built in 1886 to cross the Ware River using a Town truss. The old span has been closed since 2002 when the State Highway Department determined its capacity to be inadequate to support traffic. It was last reconstructed in 1986 at a cost of $230,000.