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ABOUT THIS PROJECT |
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The Longfellow Bridge Rehabilitation Project has been broken down into two phases: Early Action and Final Rehabilitation. Early Action Phase 1 construction work began in June 2010 and will be completed in January of 2012. Final design work is ongoing. Construction will be advertised and coordinated with scheduled and ongoing repair efforts on many of the other bridges in the Charles River Basin. To view the current schedule please see the Project Summary Schedule Report.
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The Longfellow (originally, the Cambridge) Bridge is one of the most architecturally distinguished bridges in Massachusetts. Located on the site of the 1793 West Boston Bridge, this graceful steel and granite structure was completed in 1908, and renamed to honor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1927. The bridge joins Cambridge Street in Boston with Main Street in Cambridge and carries the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Red Line and two-way vehicular traffic across the Charles River. The bridge presently carries 28,000 motor vehicles, 90,000 transit users, and significant numbers of pedestrians and bicyclists each day.
The 1908 bridge was extended in 1956 and rehabilitated in 1959. The bridge today consists of eleven original open-spandrel steel arch spans plus two steel girder approach spans at the Cambridge end. The bridge has an overall length of 2,135 feet, and a deck width of 105 feet, which includes a 27-foot fenced median occupied by the Red Line. The existing cross-section provides an upstream 6-foot sidewalk and a 33-foot wide roadway while the downstream side consists of a 10-foot sidewalk and 29-foot wide roadway. The bridge's substructure is built of granite block masonry and consists of ten hollow piers and two hollow abutments. The two central piers carry the signature pairs of neoclassically inspired dressed granite towers that have given the bridge its popular nickname - the Salt and Pepper Bridge. |
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MassDOT has selected a consultant team led by Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. to provide preliminary and final designs for the rehabilitation of the Longfellow Bridge. In this design, the bridge's distinctive architectural features will be preserved or restored, while the deteriorated structural elements of the bridge are carefully rehabilitated. All new elements of the work will be sensitively designed to complement the bridge's historic character and its prominent position within the historic Charles River basin.
The primary objective of the proposed rehabilitation is to address the bridge's current structural deficiencies, upgrade its structural capacity, 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. Updated renderings of the completed bridge rehabilitation project are available for review.
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MassDOT submitted an Environmental Notification Form to the State Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) in March 2009. On May 15, 2009 the Secretary of EOEEA issued a MEPA certificate stating the project does not require the filing of an Environmental Impact Report.
With Federal Highway as the lead agency, the Consulting Parties, under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, continue to meet to review key historical, architectural, and environmental aspects of the bridge rehabilitation.
In 2010 MassDOT worked with a group of stakeholders—the Longfellow Bridge Rehabilitation Task Force—to discuss issues, opportunities, and how to allocate space for all users in the bridge design. The Task Force concluded with recommendations to MassDOT for consideration during the environmental review and design process. See Meeting Materials and Documents for Task Force materials and Final Recommendations.
The recommendations included elements that had not been included previously, such as improved connectivity to adjacent parklands and a new ADA-compliant pedestrian bridge over Storrow Drive. These proposed elements were reviewed by the Section 106 Consulting Parties in December 2010 and January 2011 to ensure there would be no affect to the historic integrity of the bridge or the Beacon Hill Historic District.
The next step in the environmental review process is the publication of the Environmental Assessment/Programmatic Section 4(f) document in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The EA/Programmatic Section 4(f) provides an analysis of project alternatives, including those recommended by the Task Force. The EA/Programmatic Section 4(f) concludes with a preferred approach to rehabilitating the bridge, including preferred configuration of user space over the bridge.
The EA/Programmatic Section 4(f) was approved for circulation by FHWA on January 25, 2012 and will be available for public review and comment beginning February 6, 2012. The document is available through this website, local libraries in Boston and Cambridge, and directly from MassDOT. The public information meeting has been scheduled for March 1, 2012 to solicit input on the preferred alternative from the public and interested agencies.
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