It wasn’t exactly the welcome sign that the city of Fall River would have liked.
For years, motorists traveling east on Interstate 195 crossed the Taunton River into Fall River greeted by the rusty superstructure of the Braga Bridge. In a way, the mile-long span set the tone for visitors to the city, once a manufacturing powerhouse that had fallen on hard times, like so many other New England industrial centers.
As time went on, the bridge that last had been painted in 1986 continued to rust, more of its green turning brown, paint chipping in the salt-air environment. It upset city residents.
“Everybody has been complaining about the bridge for a long time,” said Shawn Cadime, Fall River’s city administrator. “It’s been such an eyesore.”
Now Massachusetts officials are doing something about it.
This month, the Mass. Department of Transportation is embarking on a $13.27 million 10-month effort to paint the steel truss bridge, one of the longest in the state.
Last week, workers from M&J Painting Co. in Campbell, Ohio, power-washed the bridge’s two truss sections. This week, they start sandblasting, surface preparation, and then prime coating, according to Adam Hurtubise, spokesman for Mass. DOT.
By the time work is complete, the contractor is expected to brush, roll and spray on about 18,500 gallons of paint.
With an average of 75,400 vehicles crossing the span between Somerset and Fall River daily, project managers are bracing for traffic problems.
The right shoulders and low-speed lanes in both directions have already been closed, leaving two lanes each way. Hurtubise said traffic could be reduced to one lane at night at some point during the work.
Mass. DOT does not think the painting will be too disruptive to traffic on Interstate 195, a crucial route to destinations such as Cape Cod and, for some, to Newport and the beaches of southeastern Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Hurtubise said state transportation officials haven’t suggested alternative routes, although the spokesman says that depending on the time of day and the destination, drivers may choose to use the Brightman Street Bridge, Berkeley Bridge or even the Mount Hope Bridge.
While R.I. Department of Transportation is aware of the lane closures on the Braga Bridge, Hurtubise said its Massachusetts counterpart doesn’t expect to have to coordinate traffic advisories until more lanes are closed through the work zone.
And in 2004, Mass. DOT began what was to be a three-year, $9 million rehabilitation of the bridge. The Jersey barriers and orange barrels became a regular sight on the bridge as workers replaced the bridge deck.
The painting project has been a long time in coming. The bridge, completed in 1966, has been painted once since then, in 1986. The Mass. DOT said it is standard policy to repaint steel bridges about every 20 years. Prep work started last year, the Mass. DOT said.
Hurtubise acknowledged that the Braga Bridge was due for another coating. “The appearance was less than ideal,” he said in an e-mail message. “And we had concerns and complaints because paint was chipping off the structure.”
Last summer, southeastern Massachusetts residents voted on a new color for the bridge. Voters chose dark blue over the existing lime green color, light blue, silver or red.
This is not a federal stimulus project. The Mass. DOT said it is part of the Gov. Deval L. Patrick administration’s Accelerated Bridge Program, an eight-year, $3 billion initiative started in 2008.
However the project is being paid for, Cadime is glad to see it happening now, just months into new Mayor William A. Flanagan’s administration.
“With a young, active administration in office, I think it’s fitting that we’re getting a new bridge,” Cadime said.
And he said a new paint job on the Braga Bridge could only help with efforts such as the city’s economic development.
“I think everything like that can have an effect when you’re trying to lure a business to your community,” he said. “Companies want to see a strong infrastructure investment in those sorts of things.”
“Before, I think [the Braga Bridge’s rusty condition] was an indication that the Southcoast region was being neglected by the state,” Cadime added. •
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