Important Community Meeting: June 1st

The Workin’ Bridges community meeting will be held Monday,  June 1st at 6:30pm at Leeds School Cafeteria. In addition to Workin’ Bridges presenting a plan for full restoration and the cost involved, a plan to open the bridge to foot traffic and bicycles while restoration funding is sought will be offered. The city of Northampton owns the bridge and must approve of any bridge opening. If the historic 1880 iron bridge can be opened in a safe way, it will greatly improve the enjoyment and movement of Leeds folks and others who relied on the bridge to cross the river.  An open bridge will also increase restoration fund raising opportunities.

What made this special meeting come about:

The Community Preservation Act grant that was used in 2011 to hire Stantec Assoc. to assess the bridge had a balance of $5,292. Rather than use the funds for a Stantec public meeting about their findings (which are available for free on the Northampton website), the LCA requested that the money be used to hire Workin’ Bridges, a team of iron bridge specialists, to perform a site visit, submit a scope of work report, and hold a larger community meeting here in Leeds.

The LCA, DPW, and Workin’ Bridges took advantage of the frozen river in early March by quickly organizing the site-visit. The WB site-visit team consisted of iron worker, Nels Raynor of Bach Steele, Jim Schiffer, bridge engineer and Julie Bowers, project manager. They flew in, spent a day and a half assessing, measuring and photographing the top and bottom chord members, abutments and deck. The river was frozen solid so the team could inspect underneath while standing on the ice – no boat, no scaffolding necessary! The Workin’ Bridges’ Scope of Work report was recently submitted to the city and on Monday, June 1 at 6:30 the third part of the Workin’ Bridges contract will take place with a community meeting led by WB project manager, Julie Bowers. You are all invited, as well as the mayor, city officials, bridge historians and enthusiasts, engineering professors and students, bicyclists and walkers. Please mark your calendars, bring your friends and find out what it will take to open the Hotel Bridge.

National Register of Historic Places 

Hotel Bridge has an excellent chance of being listed on the National Register of Historic Places which could allow access to grant funding for restoration. On Tuesday, April 28, the Northampton Department of Public Works submitted the Leeds Civic Association’s nomination for the Hotel Bridge to be officially recognized as a national historic place. The nomination must first be evaluated by the Massachusetts Historical Commission, a process which can take 14 to 18 months, before they then submit it to the the National Historic Register. Letters of support from Mayor Narkewicz; DPW director, Ned Huntley; The Mill River Greenway Initiative chairman, John Sinton; and Northampton Historical Commission Chair, David Drake were included with the application. Volunteer researchers, writers, and editors helped with the application. Many thanks to Penny Geis, Jim Montgomery, Jason Johnson, Sue Carbin, Heidi Stevens, Megan Freedman, Megan McNally, and Andy Kuether.