“A lot of the problems could be corrected with proper signage.”

Cambridge Vice-Mayor Henrietta Davis’s comment summed up many local concerns about the proposed rehabilitation of the city’s historic bridges at River Street and Western Avenue. Bikers, pedestrians and cars have to share space on the bridges, as in this photo taken at the intersection of the Western Avenue bridge and Memorial Drive.

The bridges are part of the $3 billion state-wide Accelerated Bridge Program (ABP) administered by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT). The program involves 189 of the state’s 305 bridges. It is to be finished by 2016.

In addition to physical repair, improving the bridges at River Street and at Western Avenue (left) means re-thinking traffic at the intersections with local streets. About 60 people, including state representatives, city officials, Cambridge residents and citizen groups, signed in for a public information meeting on the topic on Tuesday, March 9 at the Morse School on Granite Street.

Program Manager Mark Gravallese presided and introduced the DOT design team. A public question-and-answer session followed their summary of the ABP background and proposals. Environmental concerns surfaced along with the traffic issues.

“You’re not going to cut down any trees, are you?” asked State Rep. Martha Walz (8th Suffolk).

“I can’t promise that,” Gravallese said. He noted that trimming or removal might be necessary where trees create structural problems.

“At what point will you know?” asked State Rep. Alice Wolf (25th Middlesex).

Gravallese: “Later in the design process.”

The design process runs through April of 2011, according the DOT timetable Gravallese showed. The preliminary design phase runs till May of 2010 and is followed by a conceptual phase. The chart shows completion of a final design by May, 2011.

This and other information presented at the meeting is on line at http://www.scribd.com/doc/26856620/RiverSt-WesternAve-Pres-020310.

The Morse School meeting was essentially a repeat of one held in Allston last month. At that time Walz, Wolf, and Davis—along with local individuals and citizen groups like LiveableStreets, the Cambridge Bicycle Committee, Friends of the White Geese, the Charles River Conservancy, and area neighborhood associations—started asking publicly why there was no such meeting on this side of the Charles. A meeting was accordingly scheduled for Cambridge.

This time locals got their turn. Gravallese thanked the Vice-Mayor, City Councillors Sam Seidel and Leland Cheung, and Reps. Wolf and Walz for coming. He opened the show with a rapid-fire summary of the project. He said construction work on the arch bridges would take about 20 months.

Gravallese introduced lead consultant Ted Long of the bridge engineering services firm Hardesty & Hanover. The Western Avenue bridge was built in 1924 and the River Street bridge a year later, Long said. Both are earth-filled reinforced concrete structures with three spans, resurfaced in 1981. The 40’ roadways are flanked by 8.5’ sidewalks.

Long showed photos of extensive damage: surface effloresence; spalling or flaking; separation, shifting and misalignment of structural elements; possible leakage from the 30-inch water mains at Western Avenue. (Paired gas and water mains run under the sidewalks in both bridges). Original design and appearance of the historic structures will be preserved, Long said.

Traffic Consultant Tom Stokes of Howard Stein/Hudson Associates said planners are considering whether the existing three one-way lanes can be reconfigured to add a bike lane in the same direction while maintaining the same level of vehicular traffic. It is also essential to insure a comfortable pedestrian environment and waterway access for boaters and rowers, he said.

In the public comment part of the program many residents brought up safety problems associated with heavy traffic at Memorial Drive. Steve Miller of the Cambridge Bicycle Committee and others called for a bicycle/pedestrian underpass. White Geese advocates countered that such amenities eat up green space.

An attendee noted a spillover of traffic tie-ups from the bridges, particularly along Western Avenue; at rush hour congestion backs up to Central Square. Neighborhood Association Presidents Lawrence Adkins of Riverside and Bill August of Cambridgeport are members of a city committee working on renovation of Western Avenue (www.westernavenue.info). They urged coordination of the bridge (DOT) and street (City of Cambridge) projects.

August also pointed out that the green space along the Charles is a landmark, the legacy of landscape architects Charles Eliot and Frederick Law Olmsted. He asked that a historic marker to that effect be included in the design plans.

“The bridges are the gateway to Cambridge,” he said.

Other Comments:
--poor visibility of traffic lights due to the high crowns of bridges
--sidewalk space occupied by lights; historic-style lights recommended
--River Street and Memorial Drive has only three crosswalks; should have four
--pedestrian counts near the Magazine Street swimming area should be made in summer when children are crossing
-- Boston Dragon Boat Festival organizer asked for assurance of water access June 12-13.
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To submit comments or request more information please contact:
Frank A Tramontozzi, P.E., Chief Engineer
Attn: Shoukry A. Elnahal, P.E.
Director of Accelerated Bridge Program
Mass Dept of Trans – Highway Div
10 Park Plaza
Boston, MA 02116

To be added to the project distribution database, please contact:
Stephanie Boundy, Public Outreach Coordinator
MassDOT, Accelerated Bridge Program
617-973-8049 or Stephanie.Boundy@state.ma.us