Two Fired for Chelsea Street Bridge Mishap

A motorist got a ride of a lifetime on the Chelsea Street Bridge last Friday but it wasn’t a ride she wanted or expected.

According to MassDOT Communications Director Kristen Pennucci, just after 4 pm Friday the Chelsea Street Bridge was raised with a car still on the bridge’s span.

“The incident on the Chelsea Street Bridge occurred at approximately 4:15 p.m. on Friday, January 21 and involved one passenger vehicle,” said Pennucci. “There were no injuries, negative impact to traffic, and the vehicle drove away from the scene.”

The entire incident was captured on video by Randy Andrews who uploaded his video to Facebook Friday afternoon. The video has since been viewed hundreds of times on social media.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. I pulled up expecting the bridge to go up as normal, then I saw the car just going up along with it,” he told Boston 7NEWS after the incident.

“The bridge operation was contracted through a private vendor, Cora, and upon an internal review it was determined that policies and protocols were not followed. 

“This led to Cora terminating two employees,” said Pennucci.

The Chelsea Street Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge that connects Eastie and Chelsea over the Chelsea Creek. It opened to traffic on May 12, 2012, after a $125.3 million construction project replaced the previous bridge.

The span is 450 feet with a vertical clearance, when opened, of 175 feet.

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