Fore River Bridge

The Fore River Bridge spans the Weymouth Fore River between Quincy and Weymouth, Massachusetts. The new bridge replaced a bascule bridge that was built in 1936. The bascule bridge was demolished in the early 2000s as it was considered structurally deficient and unsafe. The Mass DOT then erected a temporary vertical lift bridge rising to 200’ which stayed in place until the new bridge was completed in 2018. The replacement Fore River vertical lift bridge has an increased vertical clearance of 60’ in the closed position and over 220’ in the open position. This will help reduce the number of openings during the busy summer months. The navigable channel horizontal clearance increased the previous width of 175’ to 250’ and can now accommodate larger marine freighters providing better access to the Fore River’s Designated Port Area. In addition, dolphins and fenders were installed to protect the new bridge structure from ship collision. The total length of the bridge including the approaches is 2,216’. The bridge architecture of the new vertical lift bridge is inspired in the Art Deco features on the demolished 1936 previous bridge but has been interpreted for modern times. The bridge includes a signature light grey color, a stainless steel mesh enclosure that wraps around the access stairs, elevators, and other ancillary bridge components, textured concrete and aesthetic LED blue lighting.

New Fore River Bridge and its temporary replacement
Postcard view c. 1940s

Design and construction

The Fore River Bridge was built at an approximate cost of $272 million and construction lasted 6 years with final completion in 2018. Bridge Architect Miguel Rosales of Boston-based transportation architects Rosales + Partners provided the conceptual design, bridge architecture and aesthetic lighting design. Preliminary design engineering was performed by STV. Parsons Corporation was the Engineer of Record working with Design Build Contractor: White-Skanska-Koch - Joint Venture. The bridge is owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

A portion of the temporary bridge was donated for use as a short bridge over a river in Perches, Haiti.[1]

Awards

Grand Inceptor 2019 Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts

References
  1. A section of the former Fore River Bridge is now serving as a new bridge in Haiti

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