Skanska has signed a $89 million contract with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) to design and rehabilitate the historic Longfellow Bridge. The project is a joint venture with J.F. White Contracting Company and Consigli Construction. The total project value is $255 million.

Rehab work will begin this spring to preserve the bridge’s distinctive architectural features. The deteriorated structural elements of the bridge will be rehabilitated to address the bridge’s current structural deficiencies, upgrade its structural capacity and bring the bridge up to modern code. In particular, according to MassDOT, the structural steel elements supporting the bridge deck have deteriorated and require upgrading, and the abutments will have to be modified slightly to allow the sidewalk approaches to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility guidelines. At the same time, the bridge’s ornate pedestrian railings will be restored or replicated, its masonry elements will be cleaned and conserved, and an appropriate new bridge lighting system will be designed. Areas on the riverbanks disturbed by the project will be carefully landscaped to tie the bridge into its historic setting.

The 1908 bridge was extended in 1956 and rehabilitated in 1959. The bridge today consists of eleven original open-spandrel steel arch spans plus two steel girder approach spans at the Cambridge end. The bridge has an overall length of 2,135 feet, and a deck width of 105 feet, which includes a 27-foot fenced median occupied by the Red Line. The existing cross-section provides an upstream 6-foot sidewalk and a 33-foot wide roadway while the downstream side consists of a 10-foot sidewalk and 29-foot wide roadway. The bridge’s substructure is built of granite block masonry and consists of ten hollow piers and two hollow abutments. The two central piers carry the signature pairs of neoclassically inspired dressed granite towers that have given the bridge its popular nickname – the Salt and Pepper Bridge.