Major MassDOT Work Underway On Roads And Bridges Around State
WORCESTER (CBS) – The sights and sounds of spring and summer are beginning to appear in Massachusetts: sailboats on the Charles, outdoor dining on Newbury Street, lilacs in bloom, and, of course, construction crews on roads and bridges across the Commonwealth.
MassDOT has several hundred projects underway resurfacing, repairing and expanding roads, rotaries, decks and ramps.
WBZ NewsRadio's Karen Twomey reports
Frank DePaola, head of MassDOT's Highway Division, told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 crews will be taking lanes at night to do milling and paving work on segments of Route 3, Route 24, Interstate 90, Interstate 91, Interstate 93 and Interstate 495 from Worcester to Haverhill to Fall River among other sections.
The work underway also includes five mega-projects under MassDOT's accelerated bridge program:
- Burns Bridge over Lake Qunisigamond in Worcester;
- Longfellow Bridge over the Charles River;
- Whittier Bridge on Interstate 95 over the Merrimack River in Amesbury/Newburyport;
- Fore River Bridge in Weymouth;
- "Spaghetti ramps" on Route 79 in Fall River.
"They are all essentially going very well," DePaola said.
Tough winters and age have had an impact on roads and bridges in Massachusetts.
DePaola said Route 3 south between Braintree and the lane drop in Weymouth probably generated the highest number of calls to MassDOT about road conditions during the winter. He expects a lot of calls about the impact the work has on the traffic on the same stretch of road.
DePaola said the reaction of drivers to road construction is a perfect example of a love/hate relationship.
"People love the fact that we're paving but they hate the fact that we're paving and the impact that has on their drive," he said.
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