Roads damaged, first school days pushed back, a major highway project undertaken on the Mohawk Trail -- Clarksburg and Florida, too, took a beating during Tropical Storm Irene just over one year ago.
But apart from one recently-bid project to go in Clarksburg, both towns have bounced back.
The replacement of Clarksburg's East Road bridge was awarded to Pittsfield contractor J.H. Maxymillian earlier this month, at a cost of $274,276.
Clarksburg Town Administrator Thomas Webb said recently that the town's bank account took an unfortunate hit in the bridge repair project.
A negative inspection by state Department of Transportation (MassDOT) shortly before Irene occurred targeted the bridge as in need of improvements, thus disqualifying the town from a Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement after it was damaged.
"Other than that, we're pretty well covered," Webb said. "We're hoping the [bridge replacement] begins thirty days from now, and it's done thirty days after."
MassDOT was also able to reopen River Road, washed out during the storm, by mid-September.
In Florida, sections of the Mohawk Trail were repaired as part of a Route 2 repair effort that MassDOT Secretary and CEO Richard Davey praised as being completed in "record speed."
The highway was reopened in mid-December after a round-the-clock, $23 million dollar effort from the state Department of Transportation and several
Florida residents also await news of the proposed repair project to the Irene-damaged Black Brook Road in Savoy, as the byway sees heavy use as a quicker access to South County.
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