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$42.3M Mystic River Bridge Work Let

Monday, August 29, 2011

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An Ohio-based joint venture has landed a $42.3 million contract for cleaning and painting on a section of Massachusetts’ Maurice J. Tobin Memorial Bridge—or the Mystic River Bridge, as it is still widely known.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation awarded the contract—a total of $42,397,298.60—to Liberty-Alpha III J.V. LLC, of Campbell, OH. Two other companies had sought the project, with bids ranging up to $48.8 million.

Scope of Work

The project involves cleaning and recoating a section of the Tobin Bridge, an 11,906-foot-long, 36-foot-wide, double-deck cantilevered truss bridge over the Mystic River. The work includes structural steel repairs and graffiti abatement on concrete.

The coatings work addresses roughly the middle third of the bridge, including a 12-span toll plaza structure.

MassDOT

The Mystic River Bridge—officially, the Maurice J. Tobin Bridge—is the largest in New England. The middle third section will be painted.

The project includes cleaning and coating all structural steel and rails on the upper level of the superstructure northerly from Bent T1 (located just north of the thru-truss span over the Little Mystic) through Bent C5 (located at the fifth bent north of the Mystic River) and on the lower level of the bridge, from Bent T3 through Bent C5.

The steel will be abrasive blast-cleaned (full removal) to SSPC-SP 10 (near white), spot-power tool-cleaned to SSPC-SP 3, and recoated with a three-coat organic zinc-epoxy-urethane system.

The existing coatings are presumed to contain lead; containment according to SSPC-Guide 6 and waste disposal according to Guide 7 will be required.

Two lanes on the bridge will be closed for nearly three years to accommodate the project.

Mystic River Bridge

The Tobin Bridge—still affectionately known to many by its original name, the Mystic River Bridge— is the largest bridge in New England. The structure spans more than two miles from Charlestown to Chelsea, MA.

Built between 1948 and 1950 and opened to traffic on Feb. 2, 1950, the roadway carries three lanes of traffic on each of the two levels: northbound on the lower level and southbound on the top.

In 1967, the toll bridge was renamed for Maurice J. Tobin, former Boston mayor, Massachusetts governor and, later, secretary of labor under President Harry Truman. While in office (1945–1947), Tobin created the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) and ordered construction of the Mystic River Bridge.

In January 2010, ownership of the bridge was transferred from Massport to MassDOT.
 
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