GREAT BARRINGTON — The days of waiting on either end of the Park Street Bridge are over.
After more than a year with only one lane, the temporary light signals have been removed and Route 183 is open to two-way traffic again.
With work to the bridge complete, workers are now finishing up, applying blacktop and doing some utility work, according to a construction supervisor with JH Maxymillian, who was at the site Wednesday, but declined to give his name. He said the work should be done in about three weeks.
"It went pretty well for a project like this," he added.
Replacement to key components of the 108-foot span on an important South County artery and four-way intersection, began in the summer of 2016, a year after the Massachusetts Department of Transportation declared it structurally deficient. The agency said it was replacing the bridge superstructure, which would include new pre-stressed concrete beams, deck, railings and sidewalks. Early on, MassDOT said the work would have to be done in phases unless the town was willing to close the bridge for a sustained time, and reroute traffic.
But in March a rotted-out beam gave way, and workers found more damage than they had anticipated. A temporary bridge was then installed. Several shutdowns to the span, which crosses the Housatonic River, repeatedly snarled traffic and caused school busing snafus.
Work to the bridge, which was built in 1970, was initially expected to be completed in March, and the estimated cost had originally been set at $3.2 million.
A MassDOT spokeswoman could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
Heather Bellow can be reached at hbellow@berkshireeagle.com or on Twitter @BE_hbellow and 413-329-6871.