On Wednesday, the MassDOT Board of Directors approved a quarter-billion dollar project to replace the Basiliere Bridge over the Merrimack River in downtown Haverhill with a new span that will include wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and an improved connection to the Bradford Rail Trail on the city's southern riverbank.
The current Basiliere Bridge connects Main Street over the Merrimack River, from the city's downtown on the northern bank to the Bradford neighborhood on the southern bank. The existing bridge is a century old, with deteriorating arches and a potholed bridge deck.
The new bridge will be slightly wider, with a similarly-sized roadway and wider side paths that will be separated from the roadway with curbs and guardrails.
The contract for the project will go to the Middlesex Corporation, which submitted the lowest bid among three shortlisted design-build firms. The contract with Middlesex will be worth $215 million, and contingency costs will bring the project's total budget to $251 million.
The Middlesex bid was about $25 million (13 percent) above MassDOT's estimate for the project.
When board members asked about the discrepancy between the agency's estimate and the actual bids, Frank Welch, MassDOT Deputy Director of Major Projects, noted that "it is a pretty complex project in downtown Haverhill."
"The lack of laydown area, as well as there's a lot of complex utility relocations that will add time to the project, so those kind of combined to result in a high bid," explained Welch.
Construction will proceed in stages so that at least one sidewalk and two lanes of motor vehicle traffic will remain open throughout the project. The construction plan calls for demolishing half of the old bridge, then building half of the new bridge in its place, shifting traffic to the new structure, then demolishing the remainder of the 1925 bridge to complete the other half of the new bridge.
Welch told board members that the construction project is expected last more than six years, until winter 2032.
With the board's approval of that contract in hand, MassDOT hopes to begin construction this fall.
