Trio of Trusses

This article will discuss how the planning, coordination and structural engineering magic come together on a project to replace three century-old bridges in Massachusetts. Limited access is not a term used very often to describe the commuter rail situation surrounding Boston. While an active freight corridor can be found, Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts, are the only cities within 50 miles of Boston that are not served by commuter rail. In order to remedy this situation, Massachusetts has developed the South Coast Rail Project to restore commuter rail access to these cities. This is the first construction project to directly advance the South Coast Rail project with the replacement of three structurally deficient bridges in New Bedford. The article describes how a contract to perform transportation planning, engineering design and environmental and construction phase services for the South Coast Rail Project was awarded to a contractor. According to the contractor, the New Bedford bridges play both a freight and commuter role in the region’s rail infrastructure. The bridges provide that piece of upgraded infrastructure that will serve freight right now and serve commuter rail in the future. The bridges, located at Deane Street, Sawyer Street and Coggeshall Street, were each more than 100 years old and only allowed maximum freight speeds of five miles per hour due to their condition. While plans for replacement had been in the works for years, a $20 million TIGER grant awarded to Massachusetts in February 2010 sent planning into a frenzy and construction began on the bridges in October of the same year.