By Adam Swift
MassDOT officials and consultants laid out the plans for the replacement of the bridge on Revere Beach Parkway that spans Broadway at a public meeting at City Hall last week.
The $14 million project, which will be paid for through a mix of federal and state funds, is expected to get underway in 2026 and take three years to complete.
Currently, preliminary planning for the project is underway, and MassDOT is expected to hold another meeting in the fall with more concrete design plans.
The proposed project will also include improved intersections at the Revere Beach Parkway eastbound ramp at Broadway, with signalized intersection improvements, and at the westbound ramp with multimodal accommodations and ADA compliant curb ramps and crossings, according to consultant Paul Berthiaume of Howard Stein Hudson.
In addition, there will also be an acceleration and deceleration lane on Revere Beach Parkway for the length of the project.
“The primary goal of the project is to replace the existing structurally deficient bridge with a new, modern bridge while maintaining the existing Broadway traffic below it,” said Berthiaume. “The existing bridge was constructed in 1930 and widened in 1958, and the bridge deck and superstructure are in poor condition. We are looking to restore the bridge but maintain its historic aesthetics.”
The other goals of the project are to improve safety at the intersection, enhance multimodal access such as pedestrian and bike access, and minimize impacts to roadway users during construction, he said.
Revere Beach Parkway along the span will also need to be raised slightly to improve the vertical clearance over Broadway.
“We are proposing to make minor changes to Revere Beach Parkway in the final condition, however, we are proposing that the current westbound shoulder … become an acceleration lane to assist traffic merging onto Revere Beach Parkway,” Berthiaume said. “The project is proposing to connect back into the existing Revere Beach Parkway configuration at the project limit.”
The project will also likely include the reconstruction of sidewalks on both sides of Broadway, bicycle accommodation, and bus priority measures where feasible.
There will also be improvements to both ramp intersections.
The new bridge itself will be a simple span steel bridge with a reinforced concrete deck, which Berthiaume said more closely represents the historic structure being replaced than other alternatives.
There is still design work underway on the final alternative for the Broadway portion of the project.
“We are currently working on the design of Broadway,” Berthiaume said. “The cross section of Broadway is limited by the bridge span, since this site contains Boston blue clay, which restricts how big the bridge span can get without having significant costs for deep foundations.”
The proposed construction approach calls for a design, bid, build contract approach with three stages of construction. Each stage of construction will take about one year.
The current schedule shows the contract going out to bid in the winter of 2026.
“Any necessary closings or reroutings of Broadway traffic will take place at nighttime only,” said Berthiaume.
The first stage of construction will have the work zone on the Revere Beach Parkway eastbound exterior lane and will maintain two lanes eastbound and westbound. There will be no impact to Broadway and ramp access will be maintained, according to the consultants.
The second phase of construction calls for the work zone on the interior lanes of Revere Beach Parkway eastbound and westbound, with two lanes maintained eastbound and westbound. Once again, consultants stated there would be no impact to Broadway users during this stage, and ramp access would be maintained.
The third stage of the project would move the work zone to the Revere Beach Parkway westbound exterior lane.
The temporary night closures along Broadway would be required for specific activities, such as demolition and beam placement, and would take place between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.
According to the consultants, two lanes of traffic will be maintained on Revere Beach Parkway at all times, with temporary crossovers. Abutter access would be maintained at all times, as well.
