The new Rourke Bridge project takes a giant, and publicly visible, step forward next week.
InsideLowell has learned that crews will begin drilling investigative soil borings in the Merrimack River next Monday, June 16, with street soil borings on the approaching roads beginning in early July and continuing through the month. The goal is to gather information on soil strength and composition to help with the project design.
The work is expected to take place weekdays between 7:30am-3:30pm, though the schedule is weather dependent and subject to change.
The roadways involved are Wood Street, Middlesex Street, Pawtucket Boulevard and Old Ferry Road. Temporary lane closures take place at:
Wood St., between Princeton Blvd. and the bridge
Middlesex St., between Cornell and Dingwell Streets
Pawtucket Blvd. between Old Ferry Road and Townsend Ave.
Old Ferry Road at Pawtucket Blvd. intersection
Police details and signage will be in place to help with traffic, and closures will vary depending on where the boring work is taking place.
Operations in the river will take place next to the existing Rourke Bridge and will be staged to avoid rowing lanes, while also being sensitive to the surrounding environment.
The long-anticipated project finally gathered steam in recent years, after decades of discussion. The winning construction bid was revealed in late January, with the $273-million price tag coming in much higher than previous estimates of $200-million.
If all goes as planned during the construction process, completion is expected at some point in 2028, when the “temporary” span across the Merrimack that opened in 1983 finally reaches the end of its life span.
Design drawing of new Rourke Bridge
10 responses to “Rourke Bridge Work Begins Next Week”
This all sounds great. Just hope that they have the traffic lights at each end of the bridge on the same controlling unit, so they change at the same time on each end to prevent back ups.
excellent “”party islands” under the bridge.Sure to keep the police busy.
This is great news! Best of luck to all staff. It is a huge and necessary project. Let’s be patient people!
Alleluia-Finally!
As with so many area “Big Construction” projects, the general assumption is that someone stands to make big bucks on this one as well. In the end, a long-anticipated, oft-promised and welcomed project will be realized and used. But to ignore the pressures and temptations that politics, connections, and other complicating issues will bring (adding to cost and time) is not all that wise or helpful.
2028? Gonna be longer than that and minimum 2 and a half times the current cost. Check this post in three years, Stuart
Very happy that it’s going to be started and completed. It has been long overdue. So many people are frightened to even drive over the Rourke Bridge because it rambles and shakes. A lot of people I know will not even drive over the Rourke Bridge at all and will go all the way around it to get where they are going. So the new bridge is going to be wonderful when completed. So everyone needs to have patients as this project is started and completed. You all will love it when it’s all done.
Hopefully Skanska drills more than 1 soil boring.
The article stated plural borings, so I think that means more than one.
Not too much of a smart design. What happens if there’s a serious emergency (like a war breaks out, or a shooting incident, or a horrible fire or an accident)? People will intuitively jump into the river to escape which may not end well. Two (2) separate bridges should be built.