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Transit and Infrastructure All things T or civilly engineered within Boston Metro. |
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#1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,617
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Longfellow Bridge update
http://www.beaconhilltimes.com/
Longfellow Bridge to return to glory days by by Colleen Walsh The planned restoration of the Longfellow bridge will return the historic structure to its former glory days, according to project officials who held a public meeting last week to discuss the work. ?The bridge is an icon in Boston,? said Jonathan Taylor, project manager from Jacobs Civil, Inc. who addressed the engineering issues with the bridge at the Shriners Auditorium on Blossom Street. ?The main goal?is to restore its former glory.? In an effort to return the bridge to its 1907 style, officials plan to replace walls and existing contemporary railings with granite and refurbished iron railings, replace the decorative filigree type work to the underside of the bridge that was removed in the 1950s, and restore the bridge?s four iconic ?salt and pepper? towers, adding back windows that have been destroyed over time and updating doors that were changed over the years. To restore the towers, officials are proposing to completely dismantle the towers stone by stone and then reassemble them once they are fixed. ?We are going to put back the towers in as good a condition as they could be,? said Taylor. In addition, officials plan to add lighting to the bridge that will illuminate both the bridge?s arches and its famous towers. The Massachusetts Highway Department, which is jointly overseeing the project with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, met with the public last fall to solicit input and suggestions for the initial design phase of the project. The result was a set of design alternatives that incorporated the public concerns including expanded lanes for both pedestrians and bicycles. The project is slated to begin in 2009 and take five years to complete at an estimated cost of between $125 and $150 million. It will include a complete structural overhaul of the bridge?s surface and supporting steel structure. To accomplish the work, officials anticipate shutting down one lane of traffic on each side of the bridge for the duration of the project. Some members of the audience were unhappy about the traffic problems that could result in having two lanes of traffic closed and urged officials to look at other options. ?I just think there?s a larger issue here about how we keep traffic flow in and out of the city,? said Joe Crowley, manager of outside services at Mass General Hospital, who suggested meeting with MBTA officials to look at running one train at a time across the bridge. The preliminary design phase of the project is scheduled for completion by December. ?Our community is going to suffer another major construction project,? said Malek Al-Khatib of Whittier Place. But he added, ?it seems for this bridge it?s a price we are willing to pay.? |
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#2 |
Senior Member
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They need to do something about the sidewalk approaches on the Boston side. Both the north and south sidewalks just disappear into the roadway. I'm sure it's not even close to ADA-compliant.
Also, the state has to decide which project to do first: this bridge, or Storrow Drive. They have already pledged not to do both at the same time. |
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#3 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,617
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Storrow Drive first
With a 2009 start date for the bridge i would say Storrow Drive will be first.
some historic pictures: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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#4 |
Senior Member
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I see no reason to temporarily reduce the number of train tracks to one. The bridge is rarely crowded with auto traffic and could easily accommodate losing one lane in each direction during construction.
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#5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 336
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The prospect of this bridge being fully restored makes me very happy. I'm really glad they are going to improve the bridges illumination. I've always felt the Longfellow would rival some of the best bridges across the Thames if only it could be spiffed up and its archways lit up from below. I just hope I no longer commute via the redline once construction starts.
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#6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: New England
Posts: 347
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Weren't there plans to stop all red line service on the bridge at least during certain times, like the orange line signal upgrade bustitution? This is great news and a relief if the red line will not be disrupted.
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#7 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: South End, Boston
Posts: 476
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Quote:
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#8 |
Administrator
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Costing $150 million and taking five years? Am I to believe that the Zakim was built much faster and cost far less to build than the Longfellow will to be recuperated? I find this very odd. I know the structure is in bad shape thanks to decades of absolute neglect, but still...
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#9 |
Senior Member
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It always costs more, and takes longer, if you have to keep something in service while fixing it.
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#10 | |
Administrator
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Quote:
Though, on second thought, perhaps there were hidden costs associated with the LPZ that werent factored in to the final cost. Still, $150 million and five years to recoup the Longfellow still sounds super extreme. |
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#11 |
Senior Member
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The Zakim Bridge wasn't in use until it was finished. And yeah, one reason the Big Dig took so long, and cost so much, is that they had to keep the old road operating while building the new one under and alongside it.
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#12 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 259
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I'd be interested to know if the original iron lanterns mounted on the towers still exist in storage someplace or if new ones will need to be made.
I wish that there wee some way to free the ends of the bridge from their current positions stranded in the midst of modern roadways. Even if the turn off from Storrow to Charles street could be relocated it would make the bridge so much more accessible. What's up with Tom Thumb and Thumbelina getting out of the tiny miniature automobile in the third historic photo? ![]() |
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#13 | |
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Approaching a City
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#14 |
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 3
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Some more information from Mass highway:
Restoration of the Longfellow Bridge "A primary objective of the proposed rehabilitation is to address the bridge's current structural deficiencies, upgrade its structural capacity (where appropriate), and bring the bridge up to modern code. In particular, the structural steel elements supporting the bridge deck have deteriorated and require upgrading, and the abutments will have to be modified slightly to allow the sidewalk approaches to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility guidelines. At the same time, the bridge's ornate pedestrian railings will be restored or replicated, its masonry elements will be cleaned and conserved, and an appropriate new bridge lighting system will be designed. Areas on the riverbanks disturbed by the project will be carefully landscaped to tie the bridge into its historic setting." |
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#15 |
Senior Member
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Anything done to make those sidewalk approaches ADA-compliant will be appreciated by able-bodied pedestrians as well.
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#16 | |
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#17 |
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Location: New York City
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That brings up a good point about how we as a society value consumption of new things over the saving of old things. As my father pointed out about the bridge collapse in MN, the bridge that fell was built to replace the bridge that didn't.
The fruits of our consumer society are coming to bear.
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#18 | |
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#19 | |
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#20 | ||
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