Beverly Drawbridge Closed To Vehicles To Open For Marine Traffic

BEVERLY, MA — The Hall-Whitaker Drawbridge, which has been closed to vehicles in Beverly for the past 15 months, will open for marine traffic on Wednesday and Thursday.

Pedestrians and cyclists, who are still allowed to cross the bridge while plans for a temporary replacement are being finalized, are advised that the bridge is scheduled to open for marine traffic on Wednesday at 10 a.m. and on Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

Pedestrian and bike/scooter traffic should seek alternate routes at those times.

Massachusetts Department of Transportation officials said during a community forum in June that the most current target for having a temporary replacement of the Hall-Whitaker Bridge — which was ordered closed to auto traffic in June 2022 — is the middle of 2027.

According to those plans, the replacement bridge would run parallel to the existing bridge, which
would largely remain open for pedestrians and bicycle traffic, and will require some temporary right-of-way property taking via eminent domain.

Demolition of the current Hall-Whitaker Bridge and construction on the new permanent drawbridge would then begin upon the opening of the temporary fixed bridge in 2027.

At the same time, work will be done to stabilize the deficient Kernwood Bridge pending the completion of the temporary Hall-Whitaker Bridge before that bridge is rebuilt as well.

MassDOT representatives said the timeline for both permanent bridges to be completed is 2032 — about three years sooner than the original 13-year timeline proposed in the first public meeting following the Hall-Whitaker closure more than one year ago.

City and state officials have pledged to push the permitting process to help speed up the timelines as much as possible.

"We're not just resting on that we're going to be done in 2032, or that we're even going to be advertising the temporary bridge (for bid) in 2025," MassDOT District 4 Manager Paul Steadman said at the June meeting. "We want to do better. We definitely want to do better."

Some of the regulatory hurdles are environmental and have to do with restrictions on the time of year when certain river floor construction that disrupts the silt can be done because of protected spawning fish.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)