MVPCs Project Role
As part of maintaining the Regional Transportation Plan, MVPC helps identify and prioritize projects around the community. Working with the Merrimack Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) MVPC facilitates identifying diverse transportation projects throughout the region, works with the communities to prioritize the projects, and then finalizes the projects and allocates federal funds for their completion.
2. Spotlighting the Hines Bridge
The 1st Lieutenant Derek S. Hines Memorial Bridge, (formerly the Essex-Merrimack Drawbridge) connects Amesbury with Newburyport. It was built in 1966 atop the granite abutments, pivot pier, and rest piers of an earlier bridge constructed in approximately 1882. The bridge, renamed in 2006 for a Newburyport, MA solider killed in Afghanistan in 2005, was damaged in a November 2008 barge collision. The bridge was reopened for interim use following temporary repairs and subsequently closed for replacement in November 2010.
The bridge project includes:
• replacing the existing superstructure with two fixed approach spans and two pivoting middle spans
• replacement of the south abutment and all intermediate piers; seismic retrofit of the north abutment
• replacement of mechanical and electrical systems; rehabilitation of the existing tender house
• and associated roadway approach work.
The new bridge will feature a deck that is widened by 4.66 feet in order to accommodate requirements for traffic lanes, shoulders and sidewalk. The federal-funded Project is a design-build procurement being managed by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT).
Barletta Heavy Division, Inc. (Barletta) is serving as the project lead contractor, and is responsible for completing the roadway and structural construction, as well as contract management, coordination, safety, schedule adherence, and overall team performance. Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB) is the project’s lead design firm and is providing bridge and roadway design, environmental permitting, and maintenance of traffic services. Hatch Mott MacDonald (HMM) is providing moveable bridge design and is assisting VHB with design services and permitting services. Four certified disadvantaged business/minority business enterprises are engaged: 1) Nobis Engineering, Inc. is providing geotechnical and hydraulic services; 2) Eastwind Corporation is providing earth/site work, concrete ¬construction, utility construction, and landscaping; 3) Dagle Electrical Corporation is providing electrical work, and Lin Associates, Inc. is providing roadway and bridge design support.
Project Value: $34 million
Project Contract Value: $30,700,000.00
Project Completion: March 2013
(Photo courtesy of MassDOT)
To view the source of this information, photographs and additional information please log on to http://www.hinesbridgeproject.com.
1. Spotlighting the Bates Bridge
Originally constructed in 1913 and named after the late Congressman William H. Bates of Salem, MA, the Bates Bridge (also known as the Groveland Bridge) connects the City of Haverhill and the Town of Groveland. It’s a popular, busy bridge! Refurbished in 1950, the bridge is critical to both local and regional motor vehicle traffic on Massachusetts Routes 97 and 113, to pedestrians and bicyclists in crossing over the river, and to water vessels who rely upon its moveable span to allow them through. It is the most heavily traveled roadway between downtown Groveland and Haverhill, plus it’s part of a major commuter route for residents of the Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire.
The replacement of the Bates Bridge has been planned for many years, owing to documented structural deficiencies and recurring problems with the existing moveable span. Construction of the nearly $50 million Bates Bridge began in Summer 2010; work is scheduled over four construction seasons through 2014. The new bridge will be located approximately 60 feet downstream of the existing bridge, and includes landside roadway and intersection improvements at the bridge approaches. Most importantly, the existing bridge has been maintained in place and is open during construction of the new bridge.
The new bridge will retain the movable span function of the existing bridge. The new bridge has a lower profile than the existing truss bridge, and the new structure will permit greater visibility of the surrounding communities and the river while upgrading this crossing with modern traffic safety equipment, signage and lighting. Mariners will appreciate the new moveable span’s reliability.
Utility work is complete on the Haverhill side and is continuing on the Groveland side. In compliance with project environmental permitting requirements, workers on barges began the process of installing cofferdams in order to build the new bridge support piers (Photo courtesy of HNTB and MassDOT).
