Beverly Hall-Whitaker Bridge Closure: Speeding, Traffic Frustrations

BEVERLY, MA — Speeding down sidestreets, increased congestion impairing the response time of emergency vehicles and the lack of sufficient enforcement of existing traffic laws in the surrounding neighborhoods were among the collateral effects that residents in the area of the closed Hall-Whitaker Bridge implored Beverly leaders to address at the community meeting on the impact of the closure earlier this month.

Mayor Mike Cahill pledged that night to hold another forum with neighbors specifically to talk about those traffic concerns with that meeting now scheduled for Tuesday night at the Beverly High School auditorium.

The meeting is set for 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the school on Sohier Road. The previous meeting was held at the Ayers-Ryal Side School, but this meeting was moved to the high school at the request of neighbors who sought ensuing forums to be able to be broadcast on BevCam in real-time.

Residents on Nov. 1 shared their concerns about traffic congestion and speeding in the neighborhoods since the state shut down the Hall-Whitaker in June. Residents requested additional police traffic patrols as well as signage alerting those passing through the neighborhood to slow down.

"A lot of police resources have been focused on that area," Cahill said. "I am hearing you need more."

In an October public meeting, MassDOT officials laid out a plan that startled both city officials and many residents in its decade-and-a-half duration where the temporary replacement for the Hall-Whitaker, which has been closed to vehicle traffic since it was deemed unsafe in June, would be targeted for completion in 2026, the Kernwood Bridge would then be worked on through 2031, and then the permanent Hall-Whitaker would be in place by 2035.

Under that plan, which put the temporary bridge and permanent Hall-Whitaker bridge on the same footprint, the temporary Hall-Whitaker would have to be demolished — and thus access across it eliminated for a second time — to build the permanent bridge.

Cahill said at the Nov. 1 meeting that the city was pushing MassDOT to work on a plan that would allow the "temporary" Hall-Whitaker Bridge to remain open until the "permanent" replacement bridge could be built around it and then opened to traffic.

"We made it clear to the MassDOT folks that their proposal to open a temporary bridge and eventually tear it down to build a permanent bridge at Hall-Whitaker — that isn't going to fly with anybody here," Cahill said.

While residents continued to express deep frustration with the extended bridgework timeline, their more immediate calls were for mitigation measures — such as potentially lower speed limits, additional stop signs and a greater police presence — to curb speeding in the school zone and cut-through sidestreets.

"It's a bad situation," Beverly Commissioner of Public Services & Engineering Michael Collins said. "We had a bridge that should have been replaced decades ago but it wasn't.

"So here we are. We're going to deal with it the best we can."

(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.)