MassDOT: Rockland Street Bridge Cost Will Increase

The has been blocked off for months without so much as a nail being hammered at the site. But construction activity could return in early June after a plan redesign is completed this week. Due to the redesign, however, the $1.7 million cost of the bridge replacement will likely go up.

Massachusetts Department of Transportation spokesman Michael Verseckes said today the cost increase is unknown but will become clear sometimes after the redesign plans are finalized. The project required a new plan after workers found that the bridge abutments were too small.

“If we’re looking to place blame on something one can look to the age of the plans to see there was some faulty information we were going off of to begin with,” he said.

Once the new plans are in place, MassDOT will take three to four weeks to review and vet them, Verseckes said.

The completion date of September 2012 should remain, he added, due to MassDOT’s ability to speed up certain phases of the rebuilding.

MassDOT shut down the bridge in January to demolish it to build a bridge which would be 5.2 inches higher than the old bridge.