Public Information Meeting Tonight To Explain Fore River Bridge Replacement Plan

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation will hold a public information meeting tonight to explain details of the Fore River Bridge.

The meeting is designed to provide residents who live near the project area,  an opportunity to meet the design and building team.

Following the presentation, MassDOT staff will lead a discussion to answer questions, according to the Weymouth Town Hall website.

The Fore River Bridge will completely  replace  the current bridge. The $244 million project, is underway and is expected to run through 2016.

The project, part of  Governor Deval 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.

The MassDOT, on its project website, notes that during most of the construction period the bridge will remain open at full capacity, though there will be some limits to that capacity. Planning of those limits will take place between the state and local officials, with advance notice to residents. Access to adjacent businesses will be maintained.

Tonight's meeting will be held from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m at the Whipple Senior Center, located at 182 Green Street.