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A reader asks: There is a big arch constructed over the new pedestrian bridge to the new train station. Is it functional or decorative? How much did it cost? Who paid for it?
It’s hard to miss on any drive up Rt. 18: A new 70-foot-tall pedestrian bridge stretches across the highway to connect Purchase Street with the new MBTA station next to the Whale’s Tooth Parking lot.
This is the latest installment of a series that answers questions about what’s going on in New Bedford. Ask the Light your question here and our reporters will look into it for you.
The bridge is part of the long-delayed South Coast Rail project, scheduled to launch in May 2025. Construction on the bridge is 60% complete, according to the MBTA. Work has already begun to remove the temporary scaffolding underneath it. Elevators are being installed, and stairs will be added next month.
Two parallel metal beams curve above the surface of the bridge. The arch serves a function, explained Deborah Fennick, the bridge’s architect. It’s designed to support thin cables that hold up the walkway. But the design also adds some visual drama that turns the bridge into a local landmark, Fennick said.
“Bridges are very cool because they’re working very hard,” she said. “Their structure is also their aesthetic.”
The MBTA is paying for the $21 million bridge. The transit agency reached an agreement with the city to design, build, and pay for it last year.
Designing the bridge was a collaborative process that included multiple city departments, the MBTA, and even some local artists, Fennick said. The stakeholders passed up on earlier bridge designs that didn’t make as much of an impact.
“The city was very interested in something that was not just functional, but something that represented the city and created a gateway,” she said.
Some elements of the bridge will reflect the city’s nautical legacy. Fennick considered designing a wooden deck for the bridge’s surface, but it wouldn’t have been durable enough, so instead she planned for a concrete surface and wooden handrails. Local artists contributed elements such as boat designs on the glass enclosing the elevators.
On Purchase Street, the western side of the bridge opens up into a plaza with steps, ramps, and planters.
“We wanted to make a gracious landing in the neighborhood, and something that created a place,” Fennick said.
She said she imagined people using the plaza as an area to be picked up or dropped off by car — also known as a “kiss and ride,” in transit lingo.
Last week, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a bill filed by South Coast lawmakers to give the new bridge the same name as the old Rt. 18 bridge. That bridge, just north of the new one, is slated to be torn down. The bill would officially name the new pedestrian bridge the Andre Lopes Korean War veteran overpass, after a local veteran. The bill has not yet passed the state Senate.
Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org
Of course not as grand as the,Zakim in Boston or bridges in
New Haven and Bridgeport or Tappen zee in NY ..but our little gateway architecturally speaking..LIGHTED UP would really be spectacular ✨️
Disappointed they didn’t accommodate bicycles.
It does. Not with a ramp on the east side, but there is a bike “runnel” along the stairway.
Now really! Who is going to use this bridge? I guess if you happen to live in the immediate area.. perhaps! Is there parking if you commute to Boston and walk to the station? I think of a 30 degree temperature. Wind blowing ,snowflakes falling and rain. Will the city plow, and salt the bridge? And how about the motor car pollution? Perhaps the city should start building an apartment complex like the Regency where young professionals ( who can afford to pay rent) and use the train to commute to Boston. However…what are we doing for the poor and homeless ?
Why is it whenever an esthetic plan is presented in NB people say waste of money?? NB needs beautifying, it’s one of the ugliest cities in New England. The waterfront needs revitalization, the buildings that were factories need to go, the litter and junk need to be cleaned up! Not a waste of money at all!!
Andrea, public transportation and pedestrian facilities serve the poor and homeless because they do not require car ownership. Facilities like this do not require the level of maintenace of a road because they prohibit the most dangerous and burdensome users (automobiles). The less cars on the road the safer and less polluted the city will become.
21 million dollar bridge to get to the Dipper Café from the train. There is nothing on Purchase Street of interest, no auxiliary parking lot to travel from. Acushnet heights residents wont be traveling over the bridge with their suitcases to use the train. Waste of taxpayer dollars.
You don’t think a single Acushnet Heights resident might want to use the train to get in to Boston? Or if train passengers want to get to the bus stops on Purchase Street? Of course it makes sense to have a brand new train station be accessible by foot to everyone who lives nearby. It would be a massive waste to build a train station that no one living nearby can even get to.
I’ll be happy to take my suitcase over the bridge to the train when I’m headed to Logan. I’ll gladly walk over it with my backpack to get to Boston to work.
As a young professional who is considering moving to New Bedford, this bridge gives me hope that it can become a livable and walkable city. Cars have done irreparable damage to cities and psyches in the US. Walking a mile or two to commute or get groceries is not crazy, people have been doing it for thousands of years and they were better for it.
Would b awesome if the structure was out lined in lights
Yes it should light up I agree
Big waste of money could have built something much cheaper and used the money to help the homeless or the Veterans of New Bedford
We need affordable housing. Not an un-needed walking bridge with an awkward weird arch that looks like its going to fall on you when you drive under it. We don’t go that way anymore. Unnecessary and Ridiculous.
A lot of these comments show that while people have their hearts in the right place, we need better civic education in our country. Do you all truly believe that all (federal, state, and local) government money is just in one big pot that can be spent on whatever? The article clearly states that the MBTA, a state transit entity, is paying for the bridge. How would the city, a municipal government, change that money into affordable housing? Where are there an examples of a city “building an apartment complex like the Regency”? These are kind of things that are undertaken by state or federal housing agencies and they’re not even done anymore, so they’d have to be done by private developers. Having access to a train station is the kind of thing that attracts private development to a city or neighborhood.
I note the warning signs noting “low clearance” at the exit off Rt 18n south – WTF ? The designers couldn’t foresee this goof? Nice design work.
The clearance will be right when the temporary support beams come out.