Gas Work Delaying Rockland Street Bridge Opening

Police say the bridge at Rockland Street will be complete, but not re-open until after works to repair the summer gas main break.

Gas Work Delaying Rockland Street Bridge Opening

Police say the bridge at Rockland Street will be complete, but not re-open until after works to repair the summer gas main break.

  Your car will have to stay off the new Rockland Street bridge, but only for a little while longer.  Wellesley Police told Patch today that the bridge is nearly complete--and expected to finish today--although they do not plan to re-open it until early January.  According to Lt. Jack Polecki, the delay is to repair the gas main break at the end of August. A worker accidentally damaged the line during construction, which National Grid then capped on both ends, intending to return to fully repair the gas line at a later date. The repairs are necessary to maintain gas pressure along the gas main during the coming winter months. Rather than open the newly-completed bridge, only to close it again for these repairs, Polecki says the bridge will…

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Rockland Street Bridge Looking at December Re-Opening

Bridge has been closed since January, was expected to re-open in September.

  After closing to drivers earlier this year, the Rockland Street bridge may soon be passable again. The bridge was initially expected to re-open in September. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation tells the Swellesley Report that the bridge is expected to re-open by the end of the year.  At the Nov. 19 Board of Selectmen meeting, officials said during a traffic study report, that the goal is to re-open the bridge by mid-December. The study aims to streamline traffic lights along Washington and Linden Streets, and will re-examine the Rockland Street intersection after the bridge is open once again.  MassDot announced in May that the cost would increase, in part due to outdated information about the bridge abutments. Bridge …

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Linden Street Closed Today Between Kirkland Circle and Rockland Street

Crews will install steel beams at the Rockland Street Bridge.

Police are shutting down a section of Linden Street from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for work on the Rockland Street Bridge. Linden Street from Kirkland Circle through Rockland Street at Route 9 east will be closed today. Construction crews will be installing steel beams, and a large crane will be blocking the street, according to Wellesley Police. Local traffic will be allowed to pass, but other vehicles will not be allowed to pass through the area. The Rockland Street Bridge project is scheduled to be complete in December.

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Gas Main Struck at Rockland Street Bridge; Roads Closed

Wellesley Police are reporting a natural gas main has been struck in the Rockland Street area.

Crews are shutting down natural gas on Rockland Street after a gas main was struck in the area. Wellesley Police have closed Linden Street between Kirkland Street and Route 9 as officials repair the leak. "There is a strong smell of natural gas in the area," according to a police alert. Trains on the CSX line and MBTA have been halted the release says. Police expect the situation to be resolved shortly.

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Rockland Street Closed Today Due to Bridge Work

The Rockland Street Bridge is being demolished.

All of Rockland Street will be closed today, according to police. The Wellesley Police Department issued an alert this morning stating that Rockland Street will be closed at the bridge all day. Traffic will be diverted from Linden Street to Kirkland Circle and out to Route 9, the alert says. Local traffic will only be allowed from the Route 9 end of Rockland Street towards the bridge. The closure is due to the ongoing bridge demolition in the area.

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Rockland Street Bridge Demolition Continues

The bridge is scheduled to be completely torn down by September.

Activity at the Rockland Street Bridge has been quiet of late – unless you count the driver who attempted to cross it back in February. But according to a police photo from the WPD Facebook page this morning, workers are back at it. The bridge has been closed for all of 2012, and it should be rebuilt by September.

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MassDOT: Rockland Street Bridge Cost Will Increase

MassDOT spokesman Michael Verseckes said the bridge’s completion should still be on schedule.

The Rockland Street Bridge 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…

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Motorist Attempts to Drive on Rockland Street Walking Bridge

The Swellesley Report captured footage of a driver trying to get over the bridge intended for pedestrians yesterdaty.

The Rockland Street Bridge is closed to traffic. It will stay closed until at least September, when a new bridge is scheduled to be put in its place. Immediately next to the bridge, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation built a walking bridge intended for area pedestrians. The bridge is narrow and winds around over the train tracks. The Swellesley Report published video of a driver attempting to cross this bridge. Numerous signs and structures have been placed in the area to divert motorists.

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Rockland Street Bridge Closes Friday

This marks the second time the start date of the MassDOT project has been pushed back.

According to Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Rockland Street Bridge will close for demolition and re-construction Friday Jan. 27, marking the second time the construction start date has been pushed back this month. The original bridge closing date was Jan. 6. It was then pushed back to Jan. 13. MassDOT spokesman Michael Verseckes said the second pushback was in part due to a problem with some of the utilities. MassDOT also wanted to make sure relevant town bodies had ample time to prepare for the closing. “I think our wires got crossed with some of the folks in town,” he said. “We just wanted to make sure every body had enough notice and there wasn’t a surprise bridge closing.” Verseckes said he does not anticipate further …

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