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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.?
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.?