Drawbridge Is Up for Repair

Highway Agency Unveils Its Plans for Temporary Bridge Structure Allowing Time to Replace Lagoon Pond Bridge

By CHRIS BURRELL

State officials yesterday unveiled a plan to build a temporary drawbridge alongside the aging and troublesome Lagoon Pond drawbridge.

The cost of the temporary bridge is a shocker - $3.8 million.

But a project manager from MassHighway, the state agency in charge of roads and bridges, told Islanders at a public hearing last night in Vineyard Haven that there's simply no other choice.

"We need people to be able to go over the bridge," said Steve McLaughlin, a manager from MassHighway. "To build a permanent structure, we would have had to close the bridge for nine months."

The last traffic reading on the bridge back in June of 1999 counted an average of 15,000 cars a day.

Preliminary planning is just getting started, but the drawings from MassHighway already depict a temporary bridge being built on the Lagoon side of the old drawbridge. Construction would start sometime in the middle of 2005 and will require filling in part of the Oak Bluffs side of the Lagoon to create a base for the bridge footings.

While some Island officials questioned the cost and pressed Mr. McLaughlin for guarantees that the temporary bridge would be replaced by a permanent bridge, nobody doubted the need for a new structure.

Tisbury harbor master Jay Wilbur said the drawbridge is in such bad shape that state officials have told bridge tender Robert Maciel not to open it in the afternoon.

Mr. Maciel, who did not attend the hearing, told the Gazette yesterday that he has been forced to use a crowbar more than once in the past couple of weeks to get the bridge down again.

Heat is just one factor, causing the metal drawbridge to expand. The bridge itself is also unstable thanks to old timber pilings that form its foundation.

The pilings are only 60 feet long, with just a small portion actually anchored into anything solid under the water, explained Jerome MacKenzie, a consultant and project manager for MassHighway.

The problem only becomes worse when the drawbridge lifts into the upright position. "The bridge comes up and acts like a sail and moves under all that force," said Mr. MacKenzie.

"As it opens and closes, it shifts a little bit," said Mr. McLaughlin.

Despite the descriptions of such instability, state officials assured people that the bridge is still safe. Last year, MassHighway made repairs to the bridge that included cutting roughly six inches off the length of the grated metal drawbridge to allow it to close properly and bolstering some of the supports with steel pilings that measure 120 feet in length.

The temporary replacement being planned by MassHighway would stay in place only for three to four years, said Mr. McLaughlin. It would be built out of pre-fabricated sections, "ganged up together like erector sets," said Mr. MacKenzie.

"It's the most expedient way to get a temporary bridge into this space," he added.

Among the roughly 20 Islanders who turned out for the public hearing, there was a healthy dose of skepticism.

"I grew up in Lowell and there's still a temporary bridge there 20 years later," said Ray LaPorte, a Tisbury selectman. "I would like to see some guarantee that this is a temporary bridge and that the final design for a permanent bridge comes immediately."

"We just replaced a temporary World War II airport a few years ago," said Thomas Pachico, another Tisbury selectman.

The temporary bridge will be 24 feet wide, six feet narrower than the current bridge. It would have a cantilevered sidewalk five feet wide.

Some people called for a much wider sidewalk to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians. Mariners called for an expansion of the project to include dredging of the channel.

Tisbury selectman Tristan Israel was concerned about the impact on recreational activities in the area, such as the Tisbury swimming beach and the fishing.

Mr. McLaughlin made no promises, answering most suggestions with the same response: "We'll do what we can."

MassHighway will have to obtain a number of permits to move forward with plans for a temporary bridge. The Coast Guard and the state Department of Environmental Protection will have to review the plans and assess the impact on the shoreline.

Since 1989, the state has considered the Lagoon Pond drawbridge a candidate for reconstruction, and while state leaders now wrangle with a massive budget deficit, Mr. McLaughlin gave no indication that money troubles would slow the process.

But problems continue to plague the bridge that was originally built back in 1935. Mr. Maciel sounded relieved to have heard the orders from Boston not to attempt opening the bridge in the late afternoon when the heat has built up.

"I called the guy who does maintenance, and he said don't take any chances. We don't want it stuck down or up," said Mr. Maciel.

Currently, the drawbridge opens three times a day: at 8:15 a.m., 10:15 a.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. It's busiest on Fridays and Sundays, said Mr. Maciel, who's been the bridge tender for 27 years now.