Hearing set on plans to upgrade 95-year-old Larz Anderson Bridge

By Matt Rocheleau

Boston Globe, Thursday, October 21, 2010

A public hearing on design plans to refurbish the 95-year-old Anderson Memorial Bridge’s will be held in two weeks.

The historic three-span, 440-foot Charles River crossing, commonly referred to as the “Larz Anderson Bridge,” connects Allston and Cambridge. It is one of six Charles River bridges currently under construction or in design under the state’s eight-year, $3 billion Accelerated Bridge Programthat began two years ago and includes $400 million to improve Lower Basin area bridges of the Charles River.

A hearing to update area residents and “to provide the public with the opportunity to become fully acquainted” with the Anderson bridge rehabilitation project will be held Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School on Putman Avenue in Cambridge, said an announcement from the state transportation department.

The goal of the project is “to improve the bridge’s structural integrity and enhance accessibility,” while preserving as much of the original elements and look as possible since the bridge is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places as a component of the Charles River Basin Historic District, according to the project's website.

The proposed plans include replacing the bridge’s lighting and its spandrel and parapet walls. The bridge will be modified to allow for bicycle lanes in both directions and the intersections on either end – North Harvard Street with Memorial Drive and Soldiers Field Road – may be reconstructed to include new traffic lights.

Plans will be on display a half hour before the hearing begins, with an engineer in attendance to answer questions regarding this project, the announcement said. A project handout will be made available online.

“All views and comments made at the hearing will be reviewed and considered to the maximum extent possible,” said the announcement.

Written views received up to five days prior to the hearing will be displayed for public inspection at the hearing.

Written statements can be submitted to: Frank A. Tramontozzi, P.E., Chief Engineer, MassDOT – Highway Division, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116, ATTN: Shoukry Elnahal, P.E., Deputy Chief of Bridges and Tunnels , Project File No. 605517. Project inquiries may be emailed to dot.feedback.highway@state.ma.us.

To see a presentation on the project from July, click here. To see a presentation on the project from Dec. 2009, click here.

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