Fore River Bridge Designs Released, Expected to Open in 2016

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation released designs of the new Fore River Bridge last Thursday, explaining that the bridge will have a vertical lift to let boats pass.

Project Manager Jack Peccora told WATD that the vertical lift span and the framework of the main construction are expected to be completed by 2015.

The entire $272 million bridge is scheduled to be completed by fall of 2016.

Only 75 percent of the designs have been complete and should be fully completed in two to three months, WATD reported.

The project, part of Patrick's Accelerated Bridge Program that began in 2008, involves widening the Fore River channel and creating a structure that has a higher vertical clearance, allowing for fewer openings.

Critics of the new bridge's design, selected by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, have included officials from Weymouth, Braintree and Quincy, along with residents of the towns. They have called the vertical lift design expensive and cumbersome, and a bascule-style design more visually appealing and easier to maintain.

Construction has also been a concern, especially regarding traffic that could be pushed into other areas of Weymouth and surrounding towns.