The state plans to remove the Bel Air Dam in Pittsfield because a break could cause loss of life and property damage.
A neighborhood meeting about it is scheduled for 6 p. The future removal of the Bel Air Dam in Pittsfield will be a noisy mess.
A neighborhood meeting is set to make sure residents know what will happen. The meeting and presentation about the Bel Air Dam will be held at 6 p. Tuesday, Dec. For well over a decade, the state monitored the abandoned dam on the West Branch of the Housatonic River off Wahconah Street. Engineers declared it unsafe in , and the state announced in September that it would remove it.
Doing so will be disruptive and involve heavy trucks and the possible shutdown of one lane of Wahconah Street. It then has to be shipped out of state to a licensed facility. Before that polluted sediment is hauled off, it has to be stockpiled. Contractors will either cover it or keep it wet to prevent polluted dust from blowing around, according to the engineers, who gave a presentation by Zoom to community leaders in September. The work will stop on weekends to relieve the neighborhood of noise, truck fumes, dust and activity, they said.
In this case, its floodpath cuts through a low-income neighborhood with small businesses, as well as Berkshire Medical Center. The owner of the dam had given up on fixing it, despite pressure and a lawsuit in by the state. He has since died. Heather Bellow can be reached at hbellow berkshireeagle. Although the Trump administration's federal funding freeze caused issues with Medicaid portals throughout the country Tuesday, Berkshire Health Systems and CHP Berkshires say they were unaffected.
