Some great news for the City of Lowell and commuters throughout the region, as the new Rourke Bridge appears to have a new timeline.

A response on a motion filed by City Councilor Dan Rourke regarding crosswalks at Rourke Bridge and VFW Highway includes an update on the new design/build start date for the bridge, which is now slated to begin in 2024. That timeline, according to the response, was revealed by the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).

Councilor Rourke tells InsideLowell “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐰𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞.”

(read the full motion response below)