WESTFIELD—In a letter to the Westfield Fire Dept on Tuesday, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has requested that all Westfield Fire Department vehicles that exceed posted weight limits no longer use the Southwick Road bridge.
The Cowles Bridge, which runs along Route 10 and 202 and is over the Little River, has been used by the fire department to gain access to the other side but only in emergency responses, according to Westfield Fire Chief Mary Regan. Now however, the department’s vehicles are largely unable to use the bridge due to preexisting weight limits, lack of waiver and based on the request from MassDOT, which Regan said can cause delays in responding to emergencies.
A portion of Cowles Bridge, which is along Southwick Road
“Essentially none of our vehicles can cross the bridge,” Regan said.
According to Westfield Police Officer Charles Kielbasa of the city police department’s traffic bureau, several of the trucks the fire department uses are over the weight limit listed on the bridge, which is 12 tons for 2-axle vehicles, 16 tons for 3-axle vehicles and 29 tons for 5-axle vehicles.
“I weighed several of the trucks and all of them are overweight—the two axle pumper trucks and three axle ladder trucks, are well over those limits,” he said. “The ambulances will be under, the rescue truck, that’s under.”
The posted weight limit on Cowles Bridge
The weights are gathered with a portable scale that Kielbasa has, where a portion of the scale is put under each axle of the vehicle and a weight is then provided.
The request came in the form of a letter from MassDOT dated Aug. 3. A copy of the letter was provided to The Westfield News from MassDOT.
From the letter:
“It has come to the attention of MassDOT that a Westfield Fire Department vehicle exceeding the posted weight limits crosses the bridge. While MassDOT understand that the restrictions may be a hardship to some Municipal services, a vehicle exceeding the posted limits should not cross the bridge unless an analysis of the specific vehicle has been performed and MassDOT has granted a waiver for that vehicle to cross the bridge.”
According to Patrick Marvin from MassDOT via email on Aug. 9, “Upon learning of this situation, MassDOT notified the City of Westfield of the proper procedure to request a weight restriction waiver.”
He also wrote that the city “yesterday applied for a weight restriction waiver to have emergency response vehicles utilize this bridge and MassDOT will be evaluating this waiver request.”
Regan also said that the department requested the waiver and is awaiting MassDOT’s response.
Regan is concerned about delays until a waiver is received or if one is received at all. Regan could not specify how much of a delay there may be in emergency response time due to the different areas where the department may need to respond to on the other side of the bridge but did note that it could create a delay in at least some instances.
“We do feel like there is a public safety issue,” she said.
In the meanwhile, the department has established new routes and coordinated with the dispatch center about the restricted access to Cowles Bridge.
Regan said that the use of the bridge was previously OKed from the Westfield Police Department “as many as seven, eight years ago,” for emergency purposes, following the weight restriction on the bridge reportedly changing.
“For emergency purposes we could respond,” she said. “But upon returning to avoid the bridge.”
However, Kielbasa said that he was unaware of an agreement, which would have been made prior to his current position with the department.
“I don’t know where that came from, if they in fact had anything like that,” he said.
According to Mark Cressotti, city engineer for Westfield, the bridge is maintained and is under the purview of MassDOT, who has done repairs on it recently in order to extend its life.
The Westfield News reported in July 2013 on some minor bridge repairs .
In addition, the bridge is being looked at being replaced in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), he said, with the project being targeted for Fiscal Year 2020. Cressotti added that this would be a short timeframe for a project like that.
“Three years is a pretty short period of time to advance a project of that size,” he said.
He also added that the weight limit is related to deterioration of the bridge, not a one-time traversing.
“Weight limits posted on a bridge are not an indication that a vehicle over those weights on the bridge is going to fall down,” he said. “Repeated application of that weight will deteriorate the bridge.”
According to Kielbasa, within the past two days there have been two violations on bridge related to weight restrictions in general. Each violation can come with a $205 fine according to Chapter 85, Section 35, Kielbasa said.
