GREAT BARRINGTON — A sinkhole on the temporary Division Street bridge has grown since the span was first closed Friday, indicating an "unstable subsurface," Town Manager Liz Hartsgrove said.

The closure of the span has expanded to pedestrian traffic, as well as vehicles, for an "undetermined period," and Hartsgrove said she would provide an update once a scope and timeline for repairs have been determined.

Without the bridge, residents trying to get from Park Street to Van Deusenville Road have to make a loop around town to get from one side of Great Barrington to another.

A view of the west end of the one-lane temporary bridge spanning the Housatonic River on Division Street in Great Barrington. A sinkhole was discovered on the east side of the bridge on Friday afternoon, causing the town to close the span to vehicle and pedestrian traffic for an "undetermined period."

The one-lane temporary bridge was closed Friday about 30 minutes after Great Barrington police responded to reports of a sinkhole that had formed on the east side of the span.

The bridge went up in 2022, three years after the state closed the original structure due to safety concerns. Construction of a permanent two-lane bridge with bicycle lanes on both sides is expected to begin this fall, according to a state database.

The town's on-call engineering consultant, Tighe and Bond, will be doing a site visit to the new span with civil bridge and geotechnical engineers. The assessment will explore the extent of the issue and identify the underlying causes.

"This effort will allow for a comprehensive evaluation of the unstable conditions, determine the extent of the subsurface failure and develop a scope of work necessary to identify appropriate repair options," Hartsgrove said.

A sinkhole on the east side of the one lane temporary bridge on Division Street in Great Barrington was discovered on Friday afternoon. The sinkhole since has grown, indicating an "unstable subsurface," Town Manager Liz Hartsgrove said.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has visited the site to review conditions.

Taft Farms said in a Facebook post that the bridge closure has cut off access to one of its main fields, land prepared in the fall, disrupting its crop rotation system and creating major challenges for the growing season.

The post warns of higher production costs because the farm cannot easily access its field and says the best way to support it is by continuing to shop at the market, which sits at the corner of Park and Division streets.

"We lost the bridge," the post said. "That bridge that makes us the convenient stop to avoid town. The bridge that connects the east and west sides of town and avoids traffic. But we didn’t lose US. We are still here."