With a few exceptions, bridges are usually recognized more for their utilitarian purpose than for their aesthetics. However, with the recent completion of the Kenneth F. Burns Memorial Bridge Replacement, the Middlesex Corporation may be trying to change that.
Littleton-based Middlesex was recently awarded the I Build America Construction Impact Award 2016 grand prize for the bridge, which connects Worcester and Shrewsbury. Middlesex, which was founded in 1972, received a package valued at $60,000 as part of the award, which recognizes important works of construction and the communities they impact.
Completed in late 2015, the bridge carries Route 9 over Lake Quinsigamond, a stretch of road that has been in use since 1806, when the first bridge was built using logs. The most recent incarnation was constructed in 1916, though its aging concrete has since been replaced with two new steel structures – one for eastbound traffic and one for westbound.
“The new bridge is actually two separate bridges that are essentially mirror images of each other. The old bridge from 1916 was built with arches and the new bridge mimics the same arch shape that people have grown up with,” Middlesex Project Manager Evan McCormick said in a 2014 Construction Today article about the bridge.
The bridge’s most notable features include a new travel lane on the westbound bridge, which allows cars to pull over to accommodate ambulances en route to nearby UMass Medical Center. The bridge also increases the height clearance from 18.5 feet to 23.5 feet, which allows larger sailboats to travel up the full length of the lake. Perhaps best of all, the replacement includes programmable decorative lights, which bring some color to the area and make the bridge a popular nighttime attraction for pedestrians and sightseers alike.
“It’s one of the major bridges in the region and a gateway. It’s an iconic bridge for the lake users and the people of central Massachusetts and they wanted the historical arches incorporated into the design of the new bridge,” McCormick said in the Construction Today article. “They didn’t want to replace it with some cookie-cutter bridge right out of the manual, and that’s what makes it very unique and quite a bit more complex than a conventional bridge.”
Throughout the process, the company also faced the additional challenge of keeping the waterways clear for the high volume of recreational boating and competitive rowing traffic that travels under the bridge and past nearby Regatta Point. However, by using noninvasive barges to complete construction, Middlesex was able to minimize the effect on traffic both above the bridge and below it.
The bridge, named for Kenneth Burns, a former Shrewsbury police chief and champion sculler, is owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Middlesex began construction in August 2012, with a community-wide dedication ceremony taking place on Nov. 1, 2015.
A representative from Middlesex could not be reached for comment.
For more information about the bridge, its construction and the award, click here.
