Northern Ave bridge (UFRR, Boston)

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Heard from the grape vine she's coming down soon. Apparently there gonna drop her on barge in a few pieces and store it somewhere.

[TomNelligan]

For those who don't know the railroad connection here, up until the 1960s the Northern Avenue bridge carried the Union Freight Railroad's branch that extended from Atlantic Avenue to the New Haven Railroad's huge South Boston yard, which has now utterly vanished. The track ran down the middle lane of the bridge with highway lanes on each side. The UFRR "mainline" was street trackage serving the docks along Atlantic Avenue from South Station to North Station.

Preservationists hope to save the beautiful old iron girder bridge, but it will apparently be cheaper to tear it down and replace it.

[boatsmate]

Per the USCG the bridge is in danger of falling in and causing problems tie Navigation. they (CG ) have told he city it needs to come down now not alter. the city has been dragging its feet, while it decides what to do because of its historical nature. expect something to be done in the next month or 3. at the latest.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

City ignored 4 warnings from the USCG to initiate repairs ASAP or it was going to have to get torn down. The last warning came in October as an ultimatum that failure to act would result in immediate and mandatory removal of the swing span. Second time in as many years they've gotten the act-or-demolish warning, as they were forced into doing emergency demo of the Long Island Bridge out in the Harbor over similar deterioration. End of 2015 came and went with City again doing nothing. Then the day they announced GE headquarters was moving to the Seaport the City announced a $100M refurbishment package for restoring it to its former glory and reopening it to auto traffic. USCG shot back with a rebuttal within 48 hours saying: "We already told you it was too late; you owe $15M in demolition fees."

From what's been described, last winter was the point of no return. City opted to (understandably) curtail snow removal on a non-essential span after the blizzards because DPW services were far too overwhelmed throughout the rest of the city. Note that because of the severity of the snow the cleanup duties on the Northern Ave. Bridge would've included snow/ice removal up high on the trusses and down at water level around the swing, so it was a lot more work than just plowing the decks. The months of snowpack and salt-ice dams accelerated the weakening of the swing span to catastrophic risk, and the Coast Guard deemed after last inspection that there was no time left to dawdle on an intervention.


So...no...it's not going to be carted away intact on a barge and preserved for future considerations. It's not structurally strong enough to be moved and has to be demoed on-site. It'll be gone forever because the City waited senselessly long to give the Coast Guard an answer after years of warnings. If that $100M in refurb money gets spent, it'll be to build an entirely new and modern span.



Demo work starts in March, so you have 3-5 weeks to get your pictures of the intact original span.

[Otto Vondrak]

That's a shame. Tracks clearly evident in this 2011 Street View.

https://goo.gl/maps/Ydj8aMWgLGn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and a little from this end...

https://goo.gl/maps/SJv3JABtXNH2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"The Railroad That Came Out at Night" has good info and photos on Union Freight (and other Boston railroading stories)...

http://shop.whiteriverproductions.com/products/crs-rcon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-otto-

[MRY]

There will be a building constructed on the adjacent James Hook Lobster site. The bridge demo is probably in preparation for that. There is a lot of prep work that has to take place before that building could be built (remove old wharf, etc.).

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Get your last looks at the similar swing-design Charlestown Bridge while you're at it, too. The span that carries North Washington St. over the Charles River and used to carry the Charlestown El up top and two streetcar subway branches below starts getting demolished a year-plus from now for an all-new span. They're not preserving that one, either.

[Sir Ray]

Ci If that $100M in refurb money gets spent, it'll be to build an entirely new and modern span

Considering that the bridge hs been closed to auto traffic for a significant time, and a decent bridge exists 1 block south of Northern Ave., if they replace the bridge it will probably be a pedestrian/bicycle bridge only, so this new span would likely be a much "lighter" design due to decreased loading requirements.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Ci If that $100M in refurb money gets spent, it'll be to build an entirely new and modern span

Considering that the bridge hs been closed to auto traffic for a significant time, and a decent bridge exists 1 block south of Northern Ave., if they replace the bridge it will probably be a pedestrian/bicycle bridge only, so this new span would likely be a much "lighter" design due to decreased loading requirements.

Oh, no. City made a big swaggering deal in the GE announcement that it wanted to rehab it for cars: https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/20 ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Two days before the Coast Guard shot it down. I have no idea why or who was pushing so hard for this. Big Dig changed the street grid enough that Northern Ave. is no longer a thoroughfare and all load has been shifted to (ridiculously sprawled-out) Seaport Blvd. Likeliest site for the new GE headquarters is also on the parking lots next to the Gillette factory, a full 4 bridges downwind from Northern Ave. So in all likelihood it wouldn't be carrying much in the way of new traffic. Somebody with a whole lot of political pull was pressing buttons very very hard for yet another car shortcut.


Moot point now because $15M of that rehab money is now sunk cost for removing the bridge, and building a whole new auto span is going to cost more than they originally thought the rehab would. So in all likelihood it's going to be downsized to a footbridge. Or nothing at all.

[dbperry]

So...no...it's not going to be carted away intact on a barge and preserved for future considerations. It's not structurally strong enough to be moved and has to be demoed on-site.

...although the City of Boston permit application with the Army Corps of Engineers proposes to do exactly that...break it up into sections and load it onto a barge. Your source / speculation seems to be inaccurate, although I don't disagree with the guess that we'll never see it rebuilt / restored.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/201 ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In a new permit application filed with the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the structure, the city proposes taking down the bridge in sections that would be floated intact via barge to a city-owned storage yard in East Boston.

[BandA]

Just looked at the satellite: there's like a dozen small boats in Fort Point Channel - if there are any that overwinter there! None of the boats are gonna be moving till spring. Shore up the bridge now, or wait till spring, move them to temporary docks, and close the channel for a year.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

So...no...it's not going to be carted away intact on a barge and preserved for future considerations. It's not structurally strong enough to be moved and has to be demoed on-site.

...although the City of Boston permit application with the Army Corps of Engineers proposes to do exactly that...break it up into sections and load it onto a barge. Your source / speculation seems to be inaccurate, although I don't disagree with the guess that we'll never see it rebuilt / restored.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/201 ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In a new permit application filed with the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the structure, the city proposes taking down the bridge in sections that would be floated intact via barge to a city-owned storage yard in East Boston.

I'm sure the contractor is barely repressing its laughter. Yeah, sure...blowtorch it into pieces, store it for years in a part of town where the corrosive salt spray is even worse, then bring it back and weld back together to run cars over it good as new. Oh, and the design of the swing span is the sum whole of the reason the bridge is historic, so all this cut-up steel is from the primary load-bearing part of the bridge and not just some decorative metalwork. Yeah, that'll work.


It's like this is the mourning period gone awry...and instead of working through the stages of grief and coming to an acceptance the city thinks it can keep the family pet functionally immortal by having it taxidermied and put on permanent display in the living room to greet all guests. That's about how well this is going to work out for them.

[Tracer]

So...no...it's not going to be carted away intact on a barge and preserved for future considerations. It's not structurally strong enough to be moved and has to be demoed on-site. It'll be gone forever because the City waited senselessly long to give the Coast Guard an answer after years of warnings. If that $100M in refurb money gets spent, it'll be to build an entirely new and modern span.

Your speculation is incorrect, you make a lot of general statements without knowing the facts.

I just looked at the bridge Demo plans, its currently out to bid right now.

General scope is to cut the Center span in half and cut each approach span in half and barge the pieces to a city owned lot off Chelsea Creek(at the corner of East Eagle street and Condor to be exact).

[doublebell]

I am impressed that the rotating system worked so they could swing the center span 90 degrees.

John, the guy in the white car with the wing on back