Our Bridge of Concrete and Pine Barricades

Mill Street Bridge barricade festooned with pine and other natural decorations

Anyone who lives in or drives through North Amherst has undoubtedly discovered by now that the Mill Street Bridge, which is located immediately downstream from the Puffer’s Pond waterfall, is closed to vehicles. It’s been closed, in fact, since July, when state inspectors discovered that rust had compromised the integrity of the supporting beams. After the closing was announced, it took me about three weeks to remember not to use that road, and for a few months beyond that, it was interesting to watch as motorists blithely ignored the “Bridge Closed” signs only to have to make a U-turn when they reached the bridge some 50 feet later. Cars still take a run at it from time to time, but most of the locals know enough to navigate around the structure.

Being forced to take the detour has ruffled some feathers - and we’re talking about people, not the ducks or geese that frequent the pond. Some residents who live on the far side of the bridge (including folks from Leverett) are frustrated about this ongoing state of affairs since it means they can no longer use Mill Street to shorten their ride into town. Instead, they are now forced to loop back onto Route 63 up to Pine. I’m guessing, maybe, that’s a 10 minute detour. And while that doesn’t seem so taxing to me, to hear others tell it, the detour, in traffic, takes them more like half an hour out of their way. (This may be a bit of a stretch - since you can go end to end in Amherst in under half an hour - but I live on the “town side” of the bridge, so what do I know?)

It seems pretty clear that there is no money in the budget to fix the bridge (our town manager is reported to have said there are “two and a half or three and a half million reasons” why the bridge cannot be fixed).  Meanwhile, as some folks chew over what this indefinite bridge closing says about where North Amherst sits on the town’s priority list, and others continue to ignore signs about the bridge being closed (only to have to turn back), a most interesting thing is occurring on the bridge itself – or, more specifically, on the concrete barricades that now block off both ends of the bridge.

At least one person (and by now it may be more than one) has taken it upon herself to festoon the barricades with pine branches, garlands of berries, and other assorted natural decorations. I have to assume the goal is to soften the unsightly concrete barricades, to make them blend a little more with their surroundings. I’ve heard one neighbor express concern that hiding the barricades under pine might actually encourage motorists to plow right through, sending them crashing into the concrete, but between the warning signs and the wall of pine/concrete, you’d have to be pretty clueless/inebriated to continue anyway (a wall of pine/concrete should be as much of a deterrent as a wall of concrete).

Last week, I went to check out our “Bridge of Flowers” as it has been dubbed by some, and while it doesn’t come close to living up to its Shelburne Falls namesake, there is nonetheless something charming about the attempt to take the unsightly concrete and return it (if only just a little) to nature. You can still walk out on the bridge, and now that there's no traffic you can even linger for a time without stressing about being run over. If you plan on taking a trip over there, however, be careful about the ice near the waterfall side of the bridge – no one is treating the surface with sand/salt/gravel anymore, and when the spray from the waterfall hits the bridge in subfreezing temperatures, it forms a treacherous sheet of ice on the road.  Wear your stablicers/”ice cleats” - and if you bring a little garland to add to the scene, so much the better.  Of course, with tomorrow’s wind/rain nor’easter, it’s anyone’s guess whether any of the decorations will still be in place by the weekend.