Northern Avenue Bridge Fort Point Channel

you are right there is a seperate thread about this somewhere too lazy to look for it :)
 
Meadowhawk said:
BostonYoureMyHome said:
Don't know if anyone posted about this yet...

They have finally begun to disassemble the decrepit rundown building next to the Northern Avenue Bridge on the Fort Point. Crane loads of garbage one bucket at a time. Did not have a camera to grab some pictures but I'm sure we will see some soon.

I think this is the beginning stage of the new Boston Tea Party Museum, but I'm not sure.
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Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

They are in the process of tearing the building down. Not sure if its all gonna come down.
Will have to wait and see.
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Tragedy.
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

^^ "The crane doing the demolition casts a terrible shadow."
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

If she is thrilled then she is even more of an evil *expletive* than I thought. This could have been preserved along with the bridge. She has been fighting for how many years? Her only approach seems to be being a thorn in the side of developers. If she was any kind of activist she would have been working to save this.

(This all assumes she HASN'T, which, if she can prove me wrong, I will graciously apologize).
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

well it turns out they left the back part in-tact.
if you walk by there today they did leave it. I think because it is on the National Historical Registory of historical buildings. I know that came out wrong but you know what I meant. ha ha. I need some sleep. ha ha
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Can someone please point me towards a site which explains the history of this building?
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Any idea where the might be some documentation of Moshe's design?
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Remember when this was gonna turn on its side and there were going to be lights and a restaurant?

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Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Lights would be nice and a seasonal kiosk or two for mostly drinks along the way to Fan Pier from South Station -- this time of year I can just about make it on one iced-coffee from Au Bon Pain to the next one at Mickey D's
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

If car traffic is not going to be put back onto this bridge, why not open all three spans to pedestrians, instead of just one?
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Hmmm. I push this thread back to the top of our forum, then three weeks later, a Herald story pops up?

‘Unsightly’ span slated for face lift– in 2030
By Brendan Lynch, Laurel J. Sweet and Dave Wedge
The Boston Herald

The rusting Northern Avenue Bridge — once touted as the gateway to the city’s newly renovated Seaport District — was due to be transformed into an inviting entryway by this year, but is on track to remain a dilapidated eyesore till 2030, to the frustration of tourists, business owners, residents and workers . . . including some who are afraid to walk across it.

“‘I don’t want to walk over that thing. It looks like it’s going to fall apart,’” said John Vogel of Swampscott, who works downtown, recounting the response he got from the concerned mother in a family of tourists who had asked him for the best route into the booming Seaport District, with its restaurants, museums and new convention center. When he pointed up Northern Avenue and they saw the old hulk, they balked.

“It’s an unsightly bridge,” said John Duval, who works for Public Consulting Group downtown. “You have that — whatever that is — the building with all the timber sticking out of the water.”

“I think they should get rid of it, I really do,” said Diana Balluku of Medford, who works in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Yesterday, she crossed the Fort Point Channel on the neighboring Evelyn Moakley bridge, saying the rusty old Northern Avenue relic looks as if it’s about to fall apart.

The span has been slated for redevelopment since 1999. In 2008, city officials told the Herald the repairs could be done by 2011.

But so far this year, the century-old, 283-foot swing bridge sits idle on the state Department of Transportation’s “high priority” project list to be rehabilitated — in 2030 — at an estimated cost of $55 million. The plan calls for, among other things, a paint job and reopening of the crossing to vehicles.

Boston City Councilor Sal LaMattina, whose district includes the aging footbridge, said the silence over the bridge’s refurbishing project — currently in the preliminary design phase — has been deafening at City Hall.

“I haven’t heard anything on it in a while,” LaMattina told the Herald. “There might be some good opportunities for the city to do something good there. It could be a major attraction.”

The Boston Public Works Department, which is in charge of the bridge renovation project, did not return a call yesterday seeking comment. Vivien Li, president of the Boston Harbor Association, said the bridge renovation project was derailed by the Great Recession. But she called the idea of linking the Financial District, the Rose Kennedy Greenway and South Boston’s Innovation District timely, given the recent growth of the waterfront district — including a ground-breaking for Vertex Pharmaceuticals at Fan Pier, fresh plans for residential buildings and a possible expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

“The new buildings create critical mass,” Li said. “That puts more pressure to get the bridge done. We’re at a junction right now where a lot of what we’ve been talking about for two decades is happening.”

Michael Doto, general manager of James Hook & Co., said he’d like to see shops and eateries on the bridge to attract foot traffic, instead of the trailers and chain link fences there now.

The redevelopment plans call for raising the span so boats can pass under it instead of the bridge’s current rotating middle section — a feature Doto said is the old bridge’s one remaining attractive quality.

“They open it up, everyone’s out there watching,” he said. “It’s pretty cool.”
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Link: http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1354349&position=0
 
Re: Old Northern Ave Bridge

Articles like this remind me how out of touch I am. I never once thought of this bridge as ugly or an eye sore or was afraid to walk across it. I love it.
 
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