Granville Then & Now – August 26, 2021 – Church Street bridge closes

Church Street bridge closes

By Erik Pekar, Town Historian

The Church Street bridge replacement project has reached a major milestone. The much-anticipated closure of the Church Street bridge occurred the morning of Aug. 17, around 10 a.m. The detour signs, covered since June, were revealed. The detour signs also mention area businesses as still being open, with American Hardware, Saint-Gobain and Telescope directly named. “Bridge Closed” signs with flashers were placed on Church Street at each end of the bridge, and signs were placed for the sidewalk detour over the rail trail bridge.

Work on clearing the area adjacent to the bridge had already begun in early August. Sandbags were placed to divert and channel the Mettowee River to allow for direct access to the abutments of the bridge.

The bridge demolition process began with taking out the concrete layer above the arch. The concrete was taken in out in small pieces, the process complicated by steel rebar. The extracted pieces were dumped in a pit on site and will be covered over later in the project. This stage was well underway by last Friday. The steel railings were taken out in sections.

The bridge replacement project is estimated to take 90 to 100 days, finishing around mid-November. The bridge closure was set to take place on June 16 but was delayed due to Verizon having not done their part in moving their utility lines from the bridge right-of-way.

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One of the most anticipated events of 2021 will not occur this year. The Granville Community Days celebration, set to take place Sept. 10 and 11, was postponed last week. The celebration was intended to commemorate Telescope’s centennial of arriving in Granville in 1921, the founding of the new Granville Community Foundation and celebrating the Granville community itself.

The celebration was canceled by the Granville Community Foundation and Telescope Casual Furniture because of concerns regarding the Covid-19 Delta variant. Washington County’s classification changed recently to “substantial risk” in transmission, which meant that masks and social distancing would be recommended. While it would have affected both days, it especially would have affected the dinner set for Sept. 10, where a large crowd would have sat at tables and taken off masks for eating. Foundation chair Michael Freed noted: “As a new organization that is trying to invest in the future of Granville, the last thing we would want to do is be responsible for bringing the community any harm . . .” The decision was made on Aug. 18 and announced in a press release on Aug. 19.

The Granville Community Days celebration has been postponed for a year and is set to take place on Sept. 9 and 10, 2022. While the postponement is unfortunate, the situation is understandable and Granville eagerly anticipates the celebration next year.

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In a few months a change will affect the way Vermonters dial phone numbers. Technical changes are being made to the American telephone system to allow for a new national suicide prevention hotline to be numbered 988. Under the longstanding configuration, all N11 area codes are special three-digit numbers, while all other area codes from 201 to 999 are available only for area codes.

Although many area codes are overlaid with another, requiring 10-digit dialing within the area, there are several area codes that are not. There also are area codes that are the sole area code for their state. Vermont’s 802, of course, is one of these area codes. As such, Vermonters have continued to be able to enjoy dialing only seven-digit numbers when calling other numbers within the state.

The technical changes are being made in two stages, as was done in the past when overlaying an area code onto an area with a single area code. The passive stage, where numbers should begin to be dialed in 10 digits, already began on April 24. On Oct. 24, mandatory 10-digit dialing will begin for all area codes in the United States. Anyone served by a single area code wishing to dial another number within their area code will be required to dial the area code at the start of the number. Vermonters will be required to dial 802 at the start of a Vermont phone number.

The New York side of the Granville area will not be affected by this change in October. The 838 area code was overlaid on the 518 area code in 2017; mandatory 10-digit dialing has been in effect for that area since the fall of 2017.