Saturday, May 23, 2009

Change in start of BU Bridge repairs

1. Introductory.
2. Press Release from DCR.
3. Afterthought.

Bob reports:

1. Introductory.

The following Press Release was issued by the DCR on May 15, 2009, and forwarded by the Cambridge City Manager’s Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association on their listserve on May 18.

The key part of this is the comment on the BU Bridge repair project and its needless destructiveness to the environment. This is a change from the announcement I passed on from a planning group meeting last week.

The anticipated bid date is repeated as early June.

Commencement of work is now scheduled for fall.

This change in commencement of work is very clearly to fit it with Cambridge practices.

The hypocrites lie about themselves during election campaigns, and they do the really rotten stuff the week after the election.

I am rotating between eight plus bad guys and 7½ plus bad guys. My increasing evaluation is to look at Councilor Kelley’s conversion to a statement of support for the Green at Magazine Beach in light of his apparent destructiveness of the Green everywhere else that I know of.

Eight plus bad guys.

2. Press Release from DCR.

For immediate release Contact: Wendy Fox
May 15, 2009 617-626-1453

DCR BEGINS REPAIRS ON BU BRIDGE
One Boston-to-Cambridge lane will be closed to vehicles

The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is set to begin repairs on the BU Bridge that will require one Cambridge-bound lane to be closed to vehicles.

Effective this evening, the downstream sidewalk (on the side with Boston-to-Cambridge vehicular traffic) will close. The adjoining Boston-to-Cambridge traffic lane also will close to vehicular traffic, but will be open for pedestrians and cyclists.

“We know these lane and sidewalk closings will be inconvenient, but in the interest of public safety, these repairs have to be made,” said DCR Commissioner Richard K. Sullivan Jr. “We appreciate the public’s patience as this work moves forward.”

A recent inspection by TranSystems identified two structural elements under the roadway and sidewalk that need to be repaired. DCR’s design contractor, STV Inc. of Boston, will design the repairs, and Unified Contractor Inc. of Melrose will start the work as early as next week.

In the meantime, and during the work, the downstream sidewalk will be closed to all pedestrians, and the right-hand Boston-to-Cambridge lane will be closed to vehicles and reserved for pedestrians.

As part of Governor Patrick’s $3 billion Accelerated Bridge Program, aimed at quickly repairing the Commonwealth’s most neglected bridges, DCR is currently soliciting bids for a full rehabilitation of the BU Bridge. A contract for that work, estimated to cost about $20 million, is expected to be awarded in June, and work would begin in fall 2009.

The current repairs, expected to cost about $100,000 and be completed three weeks, also will be funded through the Accelerated Bridge Program. The downstream sidewalk is expected to remain closed during the full bridge rehabilitation. The upstream sidewalk, which has been undergoing repairs, is expected to reopen later this month.

To learn more about the Accelerated Bridge Program, visit www.mass.gov/ acceleratedbridg es.

To learn more about DCR projects, visit www.mass.gov/ dcr/projects.

3. Afterthought.

Public comment about the preceding project, the BU Bridge Sidewalk project is now being described as “BU Bridge Repairs.”

Yet more dirty tricks.

The game with the bad guys has always been to lie through word games and secret definitions, or, for that matter, whatever dirty trick works.

Now they are deliberately confusing the two projects, one of which is responsible, the other of which is business as usual.

Another factor to consider is the long record of bad faith. A delay which can be reversed at will can just be a tactic to catch responsible people off guard.

The Monteiro judge is right.

“Reprehensible” is a very appropriate word.