'Father Zach' to lead St. Mary’s, 2 other churches
By Erik Pekar, Town Historian
The right-of-way clearance at the Church Street bridge in the village of Granville is progressing. Verizon crews began to look over the project area on June 16. By the weekend, two bracing poles were installed at important locations, and two new poles were brought to the area. The utility poles were placed on June 22; one on the north side of the Mettowee River, and the other across the street from an already existing pole on Church Street. The holding wires for all but one of the utility lines were installed last week. The first of the replacement utility cables were taken across the river last week.
The Church Street bridge replacement project was set to begin with the closure of the 1920 bridge structure on June 16. The project was delayed on June 14 because Verizon had yet to move their utility lines. Verizon is progressing with their work, and should be done before the end of next week. The completion of the right of way clearance will allow for the bridge replacement to begin.
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The wait for a new priest by parishioners of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Granville is coming to an end. There had not been an assigned priest there since March of 2020, when Rev. Father Joseph Arockiasamy was transferred to Cobleskill, to serve the parishes of both St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in that town as well as St. Joseph Catholic Church in Worcester.
A new priest likely would have been assigned by the summer, but the pandemic shutdown began around the time of the transfer. Mass was resumed in late June, with Rev. Robert Powhida.
The announcement came on June 15, when Bishop Scharfenburger of the Diocese of Albany said that Rev. Zachariah Chichester had been assigned as priest associate at St. Mary’s of Granville. It was also announced that Father Chichester will be serving the Our Lady of Hope in Whitehall and St. Ann’s in Fort Ann. Congratulations to Father “Zach,” as he is known, on being assigned to serve this area.
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Work continues on paving Route 149 between Route 4 in Kingsbury and Route 40 in Hartford. The section east of the bridge over the Champlain Canal in Smith’s Basin was paved with the final layers by June 18, as well as the west leg of the wye at the intersection with Route 4. The section from Route 4 to the bridge was paved with a base layer a couple of weeks ago, and has not been fully paved yet.
Two local paving projects in Vermont have been finished. White edge lines were painted last Wednesday on the newly paved sections of Route 30 and 149, in Pawlet and Wells. The yellow center lines had been painted a couple of weeks ago.
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An important bridge in Poultney may be reopening soon. The Town of Poultney’s select board announced on June 18 that they were in talks with private bridge engineers and bridge contractors to design a plan to make repairs to reopen Poultney Bridge No. 4, the bridge on Route 31.
Going ahead with the plans depended on comment and input from the State of Vermont. The state approved the plans, and the announcement was made on June 25 that the necessary repairs would be made to the bridge. The VHB engineering firm of South Burlington, Vermont, designed the plans, and Renaud Bros., Inc., of Vernon, Vermont, is making the repairs. Construction was set to begin on Monday, June 28. No pedestrians or bicycles are allowed during construction.
After repairs are finished, the State of Vermont will inspect the bridge and make a load-rating assessment. The bridge will then be reopened; the Poultney select board anticipates reopening will be during the first week of July.
The Route 31 bridge, an important link in the Poultney area, was closed on June 1. Through the efforts of Poultney’s select board, the bridge is being repaired. The duration of the bridge’s closure will end up being only several weeks.
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