Here's How To Get Updates On Beverly's Closed Hall-Whitaker Bridge Replacement

BEVERLY, MA — A June public meeting date has been set for state transportation officials to come back to Beverly and update residents on the status of replacing the Hall-Whitaker Bridge almost one year to the day after its emergency closure.

The community meeting will be held in the Beverly High School auditorium on June 27 between 6:30 and 8 p.m. Those who cannot attend in person can watch the meeting on BevCam's YouTube channel.

The state Department of Transportation said last week that the 25 percent sketch plans for the temporary replacement Hall-Whitaker Bridge were submitted this spring and that the public meeting would be set following the review and comment resolution this month.

MassDOT added that utility coordination is ongoing, borings are being scheduled for this summer and it continues to work with the U.S. Coast Guard and Bass Haven Yacht Club to collect data for the marina's requirements in the temporary fixed bridge.

When the state abruptly shut down the Hall-Whitaker Bridge last June, MassDOT officials said permitting and designing could result in 13 years of ongoing bridge work between that bridge and the structurally deficient Kernwood.

Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill said during his State of the City address late in March that the 25 percent design of the temporary Hall-Whitaker Bridge would trigger the temporary bridge project permitting to begin before he outlined a revised process to dismantle and reconstruct permanent
replacements for both bridges at the same time rather than in succession.

Once the new bridges are open to traffic, he said, the temporary bridge will be removed.

While Cahill did not prescribe an updated target date to finish this process, he did say Beverly city and statewide elected officials "will continue pushing as hard as we can to move this project forward."

(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.)