MONTAGUE, Mass. (WWLP) – While clean up efforts continue in the village of Lake Pleasant in Montague following last week’s storm, it’s unclear what’s next for the bridge.
“It’s going to take a lot to rebuild and we don’t have the hands like we did back then,” says Totty Linscott.
Linscott was the treasurer of the Lake Pleasant Village Association back in the ’70s. She and her late husband helped make the Bridge of Names what it is today.
“We needed money to maintain it so I thought of originally putting planks down with the names,” Totty told 22News.
Totty’s idea evolved into what made the bridge stand at Lake Pleasant, connecting the two parts of the village. But as the water department works to clear the debris, the village residents are trying to figure out how to rebuild.
“We were hoping that we could get insurance coverage quickly,” said Matt Atwood, president of the Lake Pleasant Village Association. “Without it will take some work to do some fundraising but we are up for that. I think the bridge and the community has enough support that we could make that happen.”
22News spoke with Mike Brown, superintendent of the Turner Falls Water Department, who told us the trees that took down the bridge might be used to rebuild it.
“We found a local gentleman with a portable sawmill to replace part of the bridge. Just shows you when people are in need, people step up to the plate,” said Brown.
As crews continue clearing debris, it’s still unclear what’s next for the bridge.
The Lake Pleasant Village Association created a GoFundMe to raise money to repair the bridge.
