“Several years ago we were approached by Stantec and MassDOT about creating an additional wetland along the Malden River at River’s Edge as compensation for wetlands MassDOT would be disturbing as part of reconstructing the Woods Memorial Bridge about a half-mile south,” John Preotle, of Preotle, Lane & Associates, said. “Although MassDOT contracting with a private entity to create a wetland was highly unusual for the agency, MassDOT agreed. The wetland was created and works well. In fact a member of the Friends of the Malden River, a local conservation group, said the area adjoining this wetland is her favorite part of the river for canoeing because of the great habitat and hence the many different species of birds.”
The project was brought off in phases: phase 1 saw the build of two bridges and approaches to the north of the existing bridge; phase 2 shifted traffic to the new bridge, demolished the north half of the existing structure, and then built its replacement in place; phase 3 shifted traffic to north once more, allowing the demo of the south half of the bridge, which was subsequently rebuilt; finally, phase 4 built the median and comprised final paving, striping, and landscaping.
Maintenance of traffic was a day-to-day challenge, as MassDOT required a specific number of lanes to remain open throughout operations.
“On the eastbound direction throughout the entire project, we maintained three lanes open at all times,” Hayden said. “On the westbound MassDOT allowed us to take a lane back during the day to construct the project. But we had room on the north side of both bridges to work away from traffic. We built two lanes, did a traffic shift, then demoed the old lanes, rebuilt the bridge in that location, and shifted traffic again. We were fortunate to have the room to divert the traffic to the north during initial phase of the work.”
The project improved access for all users by providing three lanes for through traffic in each direction on the new structures; auxiliary lanes—one in each direction—to provide acceleration and deceleration lanes into and out of the ramps; 8-ft wide shoulders on each side; and 10-ft wide sidewalks on each side. “The sidewalks also tie into a multiuse path network that parallels the roadway and goes under the bridge on both sides of the river, connecting into the East Coast Greenway and the Malden River Greenway,” Hayden noted.
