The Massachusetts Department of Transportation Board of Directors approved contracts for the rehabilitation of the Longfellow Bridge Wednesday, ensuring that the old bridge will serve the metro area for years to come.
Construction on the Longfellow Bridge, which carries Route 3 and the MBTA Red Line over the Charles River, connecting Boston and Cambridge, will begin this spring.
Michael Verseckes, spokesman for MassDOT, said repairing the Longfellow Bridge has become necessary.
“This construction is happening because the Longfellow Bridge is structurally deficient,” he said. “Its condition is not in the order that we would expect for our bridges to carry as many vehicles per day as this one does.”
The rehabilitation of the bridge is a part of the Accelerated Bridge Program, which aims to reduce the number of structurally deficient bridges in Massachusetts, according to a Wednesday MassDOT press release.
“It’s best to address [the Longfellow Bridge] now when we have the opportunity to plan for something,” Verseckes said.
The contract for the rehabilitation of the bridge was granted to the construction firms J. F. White, Skanska Koch and Consigli, in the amount of $255,489,000, according to the MassDOT press release. The rehabilitation will provide jobs for hundreds of skilled construction workers.
“Our [MassDOT] employee side of it was involved in the planning and design of it,” Verseckes said. “The firm that’s going to build … will do the hiring of the [construction] employees.”
Verseckes said the bridge will remain open for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as for one-way vehicular traffic from Cambridge to Boston during construction.
“Traffic headed in the opposite direction will be directed toward the Craigie Dam Bridge,” Verseckes said. “The biggest effect will obviously be the T.”
Joe Pesaturo, MBTA spokesman, said in an email the MBTA would provide diversions on weekends when Red Line service is closed for construction on the bridge.
“During 25 weekends between this summer and fall of 2016, Red Line service will be replaced by buses between Park and Kendall Stations,” Pesaturo said. “Only five of the weekends will be this year.”
The dates of the Red Line diversions will be published on the MBTA’s website this spring once the construction schedule is finalized, Pesaturo said.
A number of commuters said that despite the benefits of bridge rehabilitation, the closing of the Red Line during construction would negatively impact their travel.
Clare McNamara, a Red Line commuter, said the construction would force her to use her car rather than the T.
“I use the Red Line to get to and from various jobs in Beacon Hill,” she said. “I also have a car, but this means I’ll be spending more on gas and probably getting more tickets.”
William Phillips, a Red Line commuter, said he doubts the MBTA’s ability to successfully replace Red Line traffic with buses during construction.
“Last time … there were huge crowds at both ends [of the bridge], at Kendall and Park Street [Stations],” Phillips said. “The MBTA is not very well organized about these things, to say it politely.”
Daniel Miguelanez, also a Red Line commuter, said the extra time spent taking the bus diversions would be a great inconvenience.
“I live in Tuft’s campus and my girlfriend works here at the Massachusetts General Hospital, so, I travel this line almost every day.” Miguelanez said. “It’s not a big distance, but it is a long time.”
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