BEAR DOWN FOR BRIDGE WORK
Summer project to divert traffic, halt area trains
State transportation officials are putting businesses, shoppers, commuters and residents on notice that the first phase of an $81.8 million project to replace the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge deck will begin this summer.
“The best course of action would be to avoid this area,” Highway Administrator Thomas J. Tinlin said. “If everybody drives their normal pattern, we’re going to have problems.”
Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said, “We’re trying to get the dates out there now so that people can make plans,”
Walsh Construction will replace the eastbound side of the “structurally deficient,” 52-year-old bridge from July 26 to Aug. 14 and the westbound side next summer because its concrete deck has deteriorated and its steel beams are corroded, Tinlin told the MassDOT board yesterday.
Beginning at 9 p.m. on July 26, the MBTA’s Green Line will be powered down, and track will be removed to prepare for demolition, said Todd G. Johnson, the T’s deputy chief operating officer of service performance. The B branch of the Green Line from Blandford to Babcock streets will be replaced by shuttle bus service, Johnson said. During the weekends of July 29 and Aug. 5, the commuter rail’s Worcester Line will be closed from Boston Landing to South Station, he said, and Amtrak’s Lake Shore Line will be closed. Both will be replaced by shuttle bus service.
Starting at 7 p.m. on July 27, both the Commonwealth Avenue and BU bridges will be closed to traffic except for buses, emergency vehicles, bikes and pedestrians, Tinlin said, and the T’s 47 and CT2 bus routes will be detoured.
Beginning at 9 p.m. the following day, traffic on the Mass Pike will be reduced to two lanes in each direction and kept to one side of the highway while work on the bridge takes place above the other side, Tinlin said. Traffic will reopen to three lanes on Aug. 7 and to four lanes on Aug. 28.
Officials scheduled the project for mid-summer to avoid the Fourth of July and end-of-summer college move-ins, Tinlin said, and because traffic volume on the Pike and Green Line ridership are at their lowest in late July and early August. They will coordinate with local businesses to ensure that they get deliveries during the project, he said, as well as consulting with hospitals in the Longwood area, Boston University and the Red Sox.
Officials also will hold three 6:30 p.m. public meetings about the project: on April 24 and April 27 at BU’s Jacob Sleeper Auditorium at 871 Commonwealth Ave., and on May 3 at Town Hall at 150 Concord St. in Framingham.
As the start date draws near, the T will send out alerts, tweets and announcements about the changes on trains and at stations, Johnson said.
Information also is available at mass.gov/massdot/commavebridge.com, mbta.com and keoliscs.com.