A bridge that travels through Chicopee is due for a replacement — an undertaking expected to cost millions and impact traffic and businesses alike.
First opened in 1979, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Bridge sits above Chicopee's Willimansett neighborhood, but over the decades, deterioration has taken its toll on the bridge that carries Interstate 391 over Chicopee Street (i.e. Route 116)
The last six years have seen the bridge's left lanes close in both directions, with further inspections finding the bridge's super- and substructure suffering from “significant deterioration” throughout.
While safe to drive on, MassDOT says the bridge is at the end of its lifespan and must be replaced in the near-future - an effort that got a shoutout from Governor Maura Healey during her January State of the Commonwealth address as she promoted infrastructure investment plans.
The $137 million project is likely to impact all manner of life in one of the city's busiest neighborhoods. It's also fueling public outreach efforts — including a meeting at a nearby church last week.
“There are several audiences that we have to consider when we're trying to replace a bridge,” said Project Manager Andy Benkert of consulting firm, WSP. “In particular for this bridge, we have the roadway user - our goal is to restore I-391 to its full six lanes of capacity: three lanes in the northbound direction, three lanes in the southbound direction, and we want to provide for both current and future traffic volumes, but probably most importantly, we want to build the bridge in halves, so that's really going to help us facilitate the traffic management on the bridge.”
Benkert, other WSP staff and MassDOT officials spoke and listened to residents, city councilors and business owners on the matter on Thursday, April 3.
He says the hope is to use “accelerated construction techniques” on the bridge that goes over a main artery between neighborhoods, minimizing impact on locals as much as possible.
MassDOT says around 27,600 vehicles use the bridge every day. There’s also dozens of parking spots below it or adjacent.
Couple a temporary loss of those spaces, along with the prospect of night construction and it’s the kind of project that has O’Connell’s Irish Pub & Grille owner Blake Bryan concerned – his bar sits right beside the bridge overpass.
“We've spent the last almost-three years grinding in Willimansett, trying to make a family, committed, great business. I'm there every single day and it's really nerve wracking and scary for myself to hear … the night part of it: completely understandable and I know it’s going to happen,” Blake said
Currently, officials say MassDOT wants to gather feedback from community members on whether they would prefer work take place at night or on weekends.
“The other thing is our parking - I would say 80 percent of our parking is off of Margaret Street, under the bridge,” he continued, touching on another matter: illicit activities that allegedly take place at the underpass. “Yes, I've been there for three years straight and I see all kinds of stuff: drugs and homeless and mattresses being dumped, but our direct parking is so vital to our success, and without it, I don't know what's going to happen.”
Benkert says the plan is to keep local streets open as often as possible, including the Margaret/Perrault Street connection running off of Chicopee Street and below the bridge
He and other officials also signaled they wanted to work with Blake regarding parking needs and what spots could remain open during different parts of the project.
Chicopee Ward 7 City Councilor Bill Courchesne says the project also presents an opportunity to address quality of life issues – among them, the apparent cases of drug use occurring along the bridge’s underpass as Blake mentioned.
“I think it's much-needed, I'm looking forward to taking care of some of those problems I've been dealing with for ten years underneath the underpass - it's not just about oil changes, it's a lot more about drugs,” Courchesne said, referencing how one of the event’s speakers mentioned “off-the-book oil changes” as being one of the alleged under-the-bridge activities, among cases of illegal dumping and other nuisance issues.
As for when work starts – it’s going to be a while. Public hearings will continue through 2025 - the anticipated start of construction is sometime in 2027.
More information on the project can be found here. "Targeted briefings" for various community organizations are slated to take place sometime in "May/June 2025," according to project documents.
