Beverly's Hall-Whitaker Bridge 'Temporary' Fix To Take Up To 4 Years

BEVERLY, MA — The incredulous gasp was followed by a chorus of frustration and cries of "Unacceptable!"

The cause of the onslaught of consternation among dozens of Beverly residents was a state Department of Transportation timeline on bridge replacements in the city that has it in 2026 before a temporary replacement for the months-closed Hall-Whitaker Bridge could be completed, 2031 before the "poor condition" Kernwood Bridge can be repaired and replaced, and 2035 before a permanent Hall-Whitaker bridge replacement will be in place.

"We are as shocked as you are with the timeline that was proposed," State Rep. Jerry Parisella allowed at the public meeting at Beverly High to discuss the timeline and potential alternatives Tuesday night.

Mayor Mike Cahill said city and local officials are pushing state engineers on a quicker fix, but MassDOT officials responded that given the tenuous condition of the Kernwood Bridge it was judged that was the best course of action to have the Hall-Whitaker temporary fix up and running before the Kernwood Bridge ultimately fails.

"When they came to us with the projected calendar, of needing one or the other of the Hall-Whitaker or Kernwood closed really at all times for the next 13 years," Cahill said, "none of us liked that.

"So that has us all going back to square one and questioning everything again."

State transportation officials said the biggest obstacles to a quicker timeline are federal environmental permitting obstacles — which include the presence of "spawning fish,"according to state Chief Engineer Carrie Lavallee — that will take between 18 and 24 months, and other right-of-way permitting guidelines, that will not allow for construction on even the temporary Hall-Whitaker Bridge to even begin until 2024.

Officials said the nature of drawbridges also extend the timeline compared to timeline for a fixed bridge, but that it is unlikely that the Coast Guard will allow for a current drawbridge to be replaced with a permanent fixed bridge that cuts off sailboats from the Bass River Yacht Club and other marine traffic to what is considered a "safe" harbor.

Lavallee said the current plans are for the temporary Hall-Whitaker bridge to be "fixed" and the permanent bridge to be a "moveable" drawbridge.

"It kind of needs all of us to (come together and be) project managers for as long as it takes," Cahill said. "Whoever wins the governor's race — governor and lieutenant governor — that we'll know the second Tuesday in November, we'll be with them the next day and try to get them over here to walk the neighborhood and walk the site so they can understand and then can help move things with us."

A state master plan had scheduled the Kernwood Bridge to be replaced starting in 2027, but that timeline assumed the Hall-Whitaker Bridge would remain functional beyond that. In June, the Hall-Whitaker was deemed beyond structurally deficient to "unsafe" — and it was soon closed to all but pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

The installation of both the temporary and permanent Hall-Whitaker Bridge require a detour for walkers and cyclists for multiple construction seasons as well, Lavallee said.

Cahill said during a June public meeting right after the bridge closed to traffic that the hope was to have state officials back to discuss alternatives sometime in the summer, but that was extended into October.

He added that an additional public meeting with residents and local officials is scheduled for Nov. 1 at Ayers Ryal Side Elementary School to further discuss the extended closure and its impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.

Multiple residents asked whether the Bridge Street reconstruction project will be delayed amid the drawbridge repairs and replacements, but Cahill said both projects are vital and that the Bridge Street will continue as scheduled.

(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.)