Beverly-Salem Kernwood Bridge To Fully Close For 6 Weeks This Summer: Mass DOT

BEVERLY, MA — The Kernwood Bridge connecting Beverly and Salem will close for six weeks — likely this summer — as part of work to keep that bridge viable during the construction of a temporary, and eventually permanent, Hall-Whitaker Bridge that has been closed to traffic since 2022.

MassDOT District 4 Highway Director Paul Steadman said during a public update at Beverly Middle School on Wednesday night that the closure over the Danvers River is necessary as work begins on the temporary Hall-Whitaker Bridge that remains on track to be in place by the fall of 2027. Work on both bridges is expected to continue for about eight more years with both permanent bridges set to be open for travel by 2033.

Steadman said Beverly Mayor Michael Cahill has pushed MassDOT to put the full Kernwood closure in place this spring — minimizing its impact on summer traffic in the region — but "that is still a work-in-progress and we don't have a known outcome at this time."

Steadman added that the Kernwood Bridge will be closed to pedestrian and bicycle traffic during that six-week period as well.

"We recognize it's a challenging area for pedestrians and bicycles to navigate around," Steadman said.

The Hall-Whitaker Bridge remains open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, with officials saying that will continue to be the case until the temporary bridge opens to all traffic in 2027.

The work on the temporary Hall-Whitaker Bridge remains largely on schedule with MassDOT officials saying that the project is due to go out to bid in the next three weeks and that a two-year construction window will follow.

The timeline of opening the Hall-Whitaker temporary bridge in the fall of 2027 is somewhat behind what Cahill said he hoped it would be this past fall when he forecast an opening "in the first half of 2027."

Once the temporary Hall-Whitaker Bridge opens, the original Hall-Whitaker Bridge will be closed and dismantled with construction on that permanent bridge expected to be complete in 2033, at which time the temporary bridge will be dismantled.

MassDOT officials said both new permanent bridges are being designed at a higher elevation to both account for climate change and sea-level rise, and also to minimize the amount of time that the bridges need to be opened and closed to traffic to allow for marine passage.

MassDOT officials said the new bridges will have about a 75-year expected lifespan "and with maintenance projects that life could certainly be extended."

Officials said all permits have been secured for the temporary bridge, with the exception of one Coast Guard permit that Project Manager Robert Antico said should not impact the timeline and mostly affects the Bass Haven boaters, but that the permitting process for the permanent bridges will be more extensive.

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