Bill Russell Bridge | North Washington St.

I dont remember a period of time when the temporary bridge with sidewalk was opened and the stairs werent.
 
Lrfox said:
Not to drift too far from the debacle with the bridge construction, but does anyone know how long the N. Washington/LoveJoy Wharf stairs have been open? When I stopped at Night Shift last summer, they were still closed. I just happened to notice during some b-roll footage prior to a Celtics game last week that the stairs were open and being heavily used.
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I used them back in the fall when I was walking around before a Bruins game.
 
North Washington Street Bridge Construction Look-Ahead to June 11


This is a brief overview of construction operations and impacts for the North Washington Street Bridge Replacement Project. MassDOT will provide additional notices as needed for high-impact work and changes to traffic configurations beyond those described below.

Holiday

• There will be no work scheduled work on Monday, 5/30 in recognition of Memorial Day

Scheduled Work

• North abutment (Charlestown side near Chelsea Street) – rebar repair and installation

• South abutment (North End side) – concrete repair

• Utility work on Charles River Avenue

• Forming and pouring concrete elements at City Square

Work Hours

• Most work will be done during weekday daytime hours (6:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.)
 
goldenretrievers said:
Scheduled Work

• North abutment (Charlestown side near Chelsea Street) – rebar repair and installation

• South abutment (North End side) – concrete repair

• Utility work on Charles River Avenue

• Forming and pouring concrete elements at City Square
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It's really depressing to see the word repair show-up, not once, but twice, on a description of new construction activities.
 
This was last weeks notice.

Construction Look-Ahead: June 26 – July 09, 2022
……
HOLIDAY

There will be no work done during the weekend of July 4th
SCHEDULED WORK

Forming the East bike barrier at the northern approach (Charlestown workzone)
Install rebar for the bike barrier
Install electrical boxes in the location of the bike barrier
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HenryAlan said:
It's really depressing to see the word repair show-up, not once, but twice, on a description of new construction activities.
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Context is everything.
The new (hotness) design will connect to the pretty (old hotness) granite abutments, but they're a little shaky and need some beef.
I'd be more worried if the word repair shows up when we're talking about spans, tubs, welds, or pilings.
Slowly, surely this will get done... and thankfully it's not getting done at a Spanish pace!
 
BeyondRevenue said:
Context is everything.
The new (hotness) design will connect to the pretty (old hotness) granite abutments, but they're a little shaky and need some beef.
I'd be more worried if the word repair shows up when we're talking about spans, tubs, welds, or pilings.
Slowly, surely this will get done... and thankfully it's not getting done at a Spanish pace!
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The old N. Washington St. Bridge was built about the same time as the Longfellow Bridge, which was recently completely repaired and refurbished. I look at this N. Wash project as similar to the Longfellow project, with obviously a lot more replacement than the Longfellow, but still having major components of the old bridge's approaches (walls, etc.) that need to be refurbished.
 
What do they mean Massdot is searching for a solution? If the beams are bad take em out and put in new ones. Whats stopping this from happening?
 
stick n move said:
What do they mean Massdot is searching for a solution? If the beams are bad take em out and put in new ones. Whats stopping this from happening?
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The news coverage is really simplifying it. The design called for some apparently pretty serious (thick) welds that are/can cool too soon and crack. They need a way to ensure the welds cool properly.
 
stick n move said:
What do they mean Massdot is searching for a solution? If the beams are bad take em out and put in new ones. Whats stopping this from happening?
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Go back to this post:

Bill Russell Bridge | North Washington St.

From: https://thepointsguy.com/news/boston-new-york-seaplane-review-tailwind-first-flight/amp/
archboston.com

Fundamental design flaw related to the extra thick diaphragms and the tub beams and the weld needed between. It is not just a take out the beams issue.
 
stick n move said:
What do they mean Massdot is searching for a solution? If the beams are bad take em out and put in new ones. Whats stopping this from happening?
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Some discussion upthread. They went with a highly unconventional design here, presumably for aesthetic reasons. Notice how the quad sets of pylons at each pier location are all independent from one another (a 'typical' bridge has a thick lateral concrete beam tying them together before the longitudinal roadway beams are installed on top). These 'independent' pylons required the beams to have huge flexure diaphrams between them and the pylons. I believe this unusual configuration then drove the need for some significant amount of welding between the flexure diaphrams and the beams, but welding can be a challenge when you're trying to weld something large in the middle of something absolutely enormous because the enormous thing is a huge heat sink, sucking the heat away from the weld. And if the weld can't get hot enough (& cool slowly enough), it can fail to meet spec (i.e., prone to cracking). So the issue is that there's nothing to "drop into place" as a replacement here because (presumably) they haven't figured out how to solve the design issue yet. Solving the design issue was probably also delayed by an up front effort to figure out who was responsible.
 
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This project must've been fathered by the Big Dig. Only because it seems like it may be a years-long Big Dig-style project. Hah!! :(
 
Anyone know why there's a makeshift memorial to a little kid on the temporary pedestrian walkway? I see ambulances stuck on this POS "temporary" bridge all the time. And the melted black tar is a nice touch for dogs and the hundreds of tourists who cross this thing every day. I hate being such a complainer, but it's not hyperbole to say this design flaw has and will continue to cost lives. At least the traffic pattern at Chelsea and N. Washington has been sorted out a bit.
 
not for a kid and nothing to do with the temporary bridge 'costing a life'.
BOSTON (WHDH) - The Boston Police and Fire Departments recovered a body from the Charles River near the North Washington Street Bridge on Friday night.
According to Boston police, first responders received a report of a man jumping off the bridge shortly before midnight.
Officials said the body spent approximately 45 minutes in the waters of the Charles before it was extracted and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
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