Beverly Bridge Replacement Timeline Gets Positive Bump: Mayor
BEVERLY, MA — There is hope for at least marginally accelerated construction plans for a temporary Hall-Whitaker Bridge to replace the drawbridge ordered closed to traffic three years ago as well as the plans to replace the Hall-Whitaker and Kernwood bridges in Beverly permanently.
Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill provided the cautiously optimistic update on Monday night during his report on city capital projects, saying that “the story on the progress is a better one than, I think, people had been fearing.”
State Department of Transportation officials said in the fall of 2022 that Beverly residents may have to deal with 13 years or more of bridge construction and traffic disruptions before both bridges were finished.
Find out what's happening in Beverlywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Cahill said the date to advertise for the construction of the temporary bridge has been moved from September 2025 to February or March 2025.
“I hope that means that they are saving time on design and permitting and that they then will be able to save more time on construction,” Cahill told the City Council. “That remains to be seen. But we do have a commitment from the state Division of Marine Fisheries to put no time-of-year restrictions on construction for any of the three bridges.”
Find out what's happening in Beverlywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Officials had said that construction would be restricted during certain times of year to accommodate spawning fish in the silt bed.
“Now, (that waiver) is easier to get from the state because the state is our partner,” Cahill said. “We need the same kind of determination from the federal agencies. We’re working on that with the state.”
Cahill said the hope with the accelerated design and bid schedule construction can now begin next summer. He said that would likely put the bridge on schedule to open “in the first half of 2027.”
“Which is not a great improvement over what we’ve heard before,” he allowed. “But we’re still trying to beat that.”
Click Here: meath gaa jerseys
The Kernwood and original Hall-Whitaker bridge would then soon be torn down for complete reconstruction. The end-of-construction timeline was revised last year to 2032.
“I had said to them it’s best if we don’t have a gap between tearing down the current bridges unless you’re really successful on pushing forward the timeline on opening the temp bridge,” Cahill said. “All of those things have been on the table. We continue to push.”
Cahill said he has also requested MassDOT officials to do another community update and forum with hopes that will take place later this fall.
“The story on the progress is a better one than, I think, people had been fearing,” he said. “So I want them to get out and share that here with folks.”
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.