Chelsea Street Bridge Opens

MassDOT Secretary and CEO Richard A. Davey today joined Congressman Mike Capuano along with state and local officials to celebrate the opening of the new Chelsea Street Bridge carrying Chelsea Street over the Chelsea Creek at the Boston/Chelsea line.  The bridge reopened to traffic on Saturday, May 12.

The signature $125.3 million project replaced a structurally-deficient drawbridge with a new bridge that is the largest permanent lift bridge built in Massachusetts to date.  The new structure will improve the efficiency and operation of the bridge for vehicle traffic and for critical maritime vessels to safely navigate the channel.

“We made a long-term commitment to address our neglected roads and bridges and make strategic investments across the Commonwealth using federal and state resources and innovative funding mechanisms,” said Governor Deval Patrick.  “The new Chelsea Street Bridge is just the latest example of this commitment, a project creating and sustaining jobs while building a bridge that will serve this area for decades to come.”

The project includes a truss-type structure that spans 450 feet and provides 175 feet of vertical clearance when raised. The new bridge and approach roadway provides two lanes of traffic in each direction and two pedestrian sidewalks.

To accommodate the massive size and tight space constraints in the bridge area, MassDOT contractors J. F. White Contracting Co. of Framingham used an innovative technique of launching the truss across the river.  The launching sequence of the truss bridge across the channel was carefully designed to minimize disruption of the navigation channel below.

The project also addresses safety and the environment, improving longstanding issues caused by the narrow passageway used by oil tankers that resulted in accidents and the potential for oil spills.

Final work continues during May and early June, requiring overnight closures that will not affect weekday commuter traffic.  Additional work will be completed during the day after the morning commute with at least one lane of traffic open in each direction.

Comments

[Frank]

According to people close to the project, the continued need for adjustments is because the towers were installed mis-aligned due to either a design error or construction error. The bridge will never be able to operate at its designed speed due to this mis-alignment. Could you comment on this?
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Thank you for your question. Here is the correct information. The bridge is operating as intended by the original bridge design. The bridge is currently running at the contract-proposed design speed intended for normal operation of the bridge and will be the speed used now and in the future for bridge operation.

The testing and adjustments now being performed are typical for a new bridge and intended to optimize bridge performance as MassDOT assumes maintenance and operations responsibilities for the bridge.

[Stephen Dean]

According to bostonraods.com the Tobin Bridge was built start to finish in two years. What is the reason that the Chelsea Street Bridge project cannot seem to be finished and continues to have nightly closings. As others have said, now with the new busses those of us that work at the airport are faced with a 30 minute ride through Bell Circle to get from the Garage to the Airport or back. Could we just get an exact real date on when this project will be completed, please.
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Thank you for your comment. As previously stated, the project is complete and the bridge is open. As also previously distributed publicly this month, the Chelsea Street Bridge was closed overnights from 8 PM to 5 AM on Monday through Friday during two weeks in October, ending tonight. As stated, these closures were necessary in order to perform additional mechanical/electrical systems adjustments. Any such future maintenance updates if scheduled will be publicly announced and also be scheduled during off-peak evening hours whenever possible to minimize neighborhood inconvenience.

[Lew131441]

Now I return to work after days off and I am greeted with more
Bridge closings. Why can't they get it right once and for all
and let us enjoy the bridge we waited so long for?
Originally, the job was supposed to take 6 months, from June to December. This vanished until the following May when we were told the bridge, which opened with great fanfare, was celebrated with dignataries on hand, etc. was finally open for all to enjoy. Not so apparently as we have been subjected to periondic closings which now, because of the new buses on MASSPORT route 77 require routing through Bell Circle which adds more time to an already unnecissarily longer commute.
I don't know what the answer is but as I said before ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!

[Lew 131441]

What now???? After almost 5 months why is the bridge closing for 4 nights this coming week? This creates a major disruption
for people like me who get to the Chelsea Garage after 8:00 PM, for a 10:00 PM starting time at the airport. Why is this
closing taking place? Is the bridge unsafe? There must be a good reason. Why can that reason not be made public?
Enough already!!!!
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Thanks for the comment. These closures are necessary in order to perform additional mechanical/electrical systems calibration and adjustments, as has been state publicly. We continue to schedule these procedures during off-peak evening hours to minimize neighborhood inconvenience.

[Stephen Dean]

Why does the MASS DOT on this Blog refuse to answer any comments when they pertain to a completion date. We are now almost into October which is five months since the bridge opened and yet we still have night time closures. What is the final completion date and why has every date that was given out concerning completion and opening been way off.
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Thank you for your comments. All contract work is complete, and the bridge is open. Contractor crews continue to perform maintenance adjustments as needed.
These involve periodic closures, all publicized and scheduled during overnight hours to minimize traffic disruption.

[BILL]

Why am I not surprised that here we are in September and who would have guessed the bridge is still being closed twice a week for "WORK".We were all told back in June this would be completed no later than August.This adds 30 minutes to the commute for hundreds of airport employees.I'm sure the project managers are home from work on these days while they continue to make our lives miserable.If they are unable to do the job in a timely manner replace them with someone who can.In my business if you don't finish a job when promised you pay a penalty to the customer.They should pay a penalty back to the taxpayers to pay for the details and lost time for hundreds of commuters who's lives they impact every time they close this bridge.JUST GET IT DONE!!

[Stephen Dean]

Everything about this project has taken much longer than announced. The six month closing turned into a year and when the bridge was opened in May we were told another 4 to 5 weeks of nightime closings to finish. Now there have been several nightime closings in August, why is Mass Highway unable to give out an actual and real completion date on this project. Some of your prior postings say the end of June. The Bridge closing affects thousands of people like myself that work at Logan Airport and when it is closed can add an extra hour to my commute between the Chelsea Garagae and the airport and back.

[Mike]

Love having the new bridge and it is something to see -- as well as being nice to drive (and especially walk) over.

But, as Carole noted earlier, it operates in a painfully slow manner. I was the 3rd car from the action when it went up the other day, so I was front and center.

It went up at a decent pace and, since it was tug boat passing, it only ascended about halfway (smart).

But the way back down and, in particular, the last 20 feet or so, it crawled. I looked around at the other drivers and it was a consensus of frustration, for sure.

So, if I may, I have 2 questions:

a) Can the bridge be operated more quickly?
b) Is there somewhere online that I can see scheduled ship traffic and possibly avoid when the bridge needs to operate?

Thanks!
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Thanks for the questions, Mike. Answers:

Yes the bridge is capable of operating more quickly. Upcoming overnight testing/adjustment work prior to the end of July will optimize bridge operation and allow crews to run the bridge at a faster speed and not "crawl" for the last 20 feet. At the same time, it is also true that the majority of the bridge closure time involves waiting for pedestrians/vehicles to clear the bridge and for the boats to clear. Crews hope to find ways to help clear pedestrians/vehicles off the bridge in a quicker but safe way.

There is no online ship schedule. The ships have their own timetable and bridge field crews do not know exactly when ships will be traveling through the bridge. Harbor pilots provide approximation schedules only for some trips, but those vary by up to two hours. In addition, many openings are unknown/unscheduled. We continue to explore ways to provide estimated opening alerts for those that are scheduled in advance.

[April]

Is the bridge now open during the night at this point? Asking because I am coming from East Boston to Chelsea by foot late at night. My destination is right across the bridge. And it very tough to get rides so late, specially to a place i could otherwise walk to.
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April, the bridge is open and there are no night closures scheduled for July. The only currently scheduled closure is on Saturday July 28th, for testing of the bridge. This closure will be from 6 AM to 6 PM.

We do anticipate up to 5 night closures in August; they are not scheduled yet. We should know about 2 weeks in advance of those closures and will distribute public notifications immediately.

[boblothrope]

Does Massdot have a web page which says when these sporadic closures will be?
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The only currently scheduled closure is on Saturday July 28th, from 6 AM to 6 PM.

We also anticipate up to 5 night closures in August. They have yet to be scheduled and therefore are not posted on the web. We expect to get notification of these needed overnight closures about 2 weeks in advance and will distribute notifications as soon as we receive them.

Web page that includes a) Live Traffic Cams statewide, b) Traffic Advisories lists of major roads pre-scheduled work-related closures, and c)link to road construction closures statewide map is below:

http://www1.eot.state.ma.us/

Other closures on individual projects that are

[bill]

After the last post the comment was the bridge was not going to close for the week of the 4'th of July.This was another example of misleading information. The bridge then closed from Friday night till Monday morning no mention of that bit of news in the post. Now the same post stated a couple of weeks of sporadic nightly closures. I just recieved an E-mail stating it will be closed every weeknight for the next SIX weeks. I am one of hundreds who have 20 minutes of our time wasted every night just trying to get home from work to our garage from Logan. We are all tired of the lies and deception surrounding this project. Just be honest and stop telling us the job is almost over, just a couple more weeks. It always becomes a couple more months. We have had enough abuse, finish this waste of our tax money and open this bridge and be done with it.
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Thanks. The answer to the question about the first week of July was correct given information at the time. It was necessary to close the bridge over that following weekend beginning Friday night July 6 through early Monday, July 9, and that information was distributed to the media and community with detours posted. The bridge reopened as scheduled Monday. As stated previously, there will be additional sporadic night closures in July for testing and maintenance.

[Ralph]

Last week you stated another 2 weeks of closures after the 4th of July. Now the airport employees are being told another 6 weeks of nightly closings, this puts us to the end of August. How can your estimate be so far off? What is the reason for the continued closings and why cannot the work be completed quicker?
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Thursday night July 12 is the final nighttime closure scheduled. There will be additional sporadic night closures for testing and maintenance but those have yet to be scheduled.

[Ralph]

It's July and the bridge is still closing at night. When will construction really be finished, since June was not correct, do you have an honest date. This is getting frustrating.
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There is no night work scheduled this week. There will be sporadic night work for approximately two weeks after the 4th of July.

[Lew]

Is the bridge work indeed going to be finished by the end of June? It is now June 28 and the bridge is still closed over night during the week. What's the schedule?
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There is no night work scheduled for next week. There will be sporadic night work for approximately two weeks after the 4th of July.

[Nicole]

With a prior alert system, may I make a suggestion? This should be a service that can be signed up for with a text message update on incoming ships. Please don't just make it a "smartphone app" option.

[Nicole]

Is there any kind of schedule that is followed for when the bridge is raised or is it entirely dependent on when ships need to pass through? Because of the Tobin bridge painting causing massive delays, I have started taking an alternate route that includes the Chelsea Street Bridge. I sat for a full 30 minutes waiting to cross it this morning. I need to know if I can rely on this bridge to be regular or not.
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Thanks for the question. Openings do occur on short notice and not always according to an advance schedule. We are exploring options regarding a prior alert system.

[Carole]

Why is the bridge so slow to go up and down? Why does the bridge have to go all the way up for such a small vessel passing? With small vessles passing under, there really is no need to pull the bridge all the way up because it takes over 20 minutes to come back down. This is the slowest bridge I have ever seen move. What is up with that.

[Bob Dwyer]

I heard the bridge will be closing for six weeks for motor improvements to speed up the bridge operation.If this true what is the first day of the closer of the bridge.
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There are no plans to close the new bridge. Night construction completion activities continue in June.

[Tom Achin]

Is there a target date when nite construction will be complete?
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It is currently expected that night construction will be completed within 3 weeks, before the end of June.

[Sandro Frattura]

Can anyone explain why the bridge is "speckled" with Gray Spots/Markings all over it? The other day, I watched as workers were painting over these gray spots (by hand) with paint brushes.

There is no chance that the underlying steel is been revealed already, right? I'm really curious. The bridge is brand new, and it is already looking worn. How is this possible?
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Answer: As construction is completed, the contractor works on final punch list items, one of which is repair of paint on the bridge. The steel members are shop painted with 3 coats, including a white finish coat. During construction, this paint often receives minor damage. The repair procedure calls for removal of the old paint and repainting using a grey primer and then the white top coat. Those grey spots are the primed repair areas that will be painted white in the coming days.