SHELBURNE FALLS — Repairs to the Bridge of Flowers are underway and on track for completion with a bridge reopening set for next summer. Crews are currently excavating old soil from the bridge which will allow for the northern section to be demolished and replaced in the coming months.

“Everything is moving along nicely,” said Bridge of Flowers Committee Chair Annette Szpila.

Szpila said she met with engineer Zach Chornyak from Tighe & Bond last week, and was told repairs are progressing as scheduled and the demolition and replacement of the cracked north spandrel wall will hopefully begin soon after the excavation is completed.

Tighe & Bond began work last June after a 2020 study recommended stabilizing the wall, which was damaged by Hurricane Irene in 2011, upgrading fencing and drainage and improving other rebar support throughout the bridge.

The Shelburne Falls Fire District, which owns the bridge, received a $3.2 million Community One Stop for Growth grant through the Executive Office of Economic Development.

Chornyak said that since June workers have sandblasted the bridge, painted about 80% of it, and filled cracks throughout. Over the next few months contractors will finish painting, demolish the failing wall and pour concrete to build a new one, install waterproofing, a new water main, soil, handrails, lighting, and irrigation, and complete final restoration work.

An exact date for completion of work has not yet been determined, but Chornyak expects work to be wrapped up in the spring so committee gardeners can replant.

In the meantime the Bridge of Flowers Committee and head gardener Carol DeLorenzo are excitedly planning out a new look for the bridge, and figuring out which flowers they would like to plant.

“We’ve just been looking up things to buy for the bridge … new arches and flowers and things we’ve never had before,” Szpila said.

She said DeLorenzo plans to replant many of the trees and annuals previously seen on the bridge, as well as a new perennial garden. But visitors to bridge will need to be patient, perennial gardens can take three to five years to become fully established so visitors should not be disappointed if the bridge does not look quite full yet when it reopens. In a few years when the perennials are fully settled in and blooming it will look better.

“It’s going to be gorgeous,” Szpila said.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.