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Casey Overpass Outbound Lane Shut Down
Police have shut down the outbound lane of the decaying Casey Overpass. Scanner traffic indicates concern with structural integrity of the bridge.
The closure of the outbound lane of the Casey Overpass was causing traffic woes back to the Jamaicaway and beyond on Aug. 31, 2012. Here, an officer directs traffic at the Jamaicaway off-ramp onto South Street.
Photos (4)
Photos
UPDATE: Saturday, 11:05 a.m. — The state reports that repairs were completed Saturday morning and that as of 4:30 a.m. the overpass was open in both directions.
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UPDATE: Friday, 4:55 p.m. — The Department of Transportation plans to close the outbound lane of the Casey Overpass throughout the Friday evening commute while they work on "bridge deck repairs."
Effects from the lane closure are rippling through the area. Motorists are being shunted off the Jamaicaway toward West Roxbury. Police recommend avoiding the area if possible.
Here is a bulletin from the Department of Transportation, issed at 4:51 p.m. Friday:
The EASTBOUND side of the Casey Overpass, carrying Route 203 over Washington Street and New Washington Street, is closed to vehicular travel for emergency repairs.
Repairs are expected to begin within the hour. The closure of the eastbound direction is expected to last until 11 p.m. Drivers should use Centre Street as an alternate route.
Drivers that must travel through the affected area should expect delays and should reduce speed and use caution while approaching and traveling along the detour route and the area of the overpass.
WCVB reports that the trouble was caused by a truck hitting the bridge.
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Authorities have shut down the one remaining outbound lane atop the Casey Overpass. The closure is causing a high volume of congestion, according to scanner traffic.
Also according to scanner traffic, the closure is because of concern with the structural integrity of the bridge and engineers are on their way to investigate. Scanner reports can be incomplete or inaccurate, so Patch is trying to confirm this aspect of the closure.
The Casey Overpass is scheduled to be torn down and replaced with a network of surface roads. Earlier this year, the four-lane span was narrowed to one lane in each direction because of concerns for structural integrity of the bridge. It was built in the 1950s.
Photographer Alex Jones reports via Twitter that debris has fallen from the bridge, causing authorities to tape off the area beneath.
Follow all the Casey Overpass news at the JP Patch Casey Overpass topic page.
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Bra Betty
4:15 pm on Friday, August 31, 2012
Probably because it is literally the worst creation of mankind.
yannaro
5:17 pm on Friday, August 31, 2012
A traffic foretaste of the future when the illogical and foolish at grade plan is done.
Mary Mulvey Jacobson
6:20 pm on Friday, August 31, 2012
I just came home from that nightmare of traveling. The back ups started at the intersection of the VFW Parkway and Centre Street near Hebrew Rehab. An utter nightmare. This is what we will have to look forward to when they remove the Casey Overpass. Add onto that the closing down/slowing down of traffic on Carolina Avenue once the new schools open, this should be a blast! At the meeting this week with the BPS, we found out that both police and fire signed off on this, but not our local police and fire who will have to live with it. It's funny. A few years back, when teachers were taking their lives into their hands getting the young children onto and off buses, both the local police and fire said that closing down Carolina Avenue would be a huge safety issue because it it one of two major streets (Green being the other) that need to be kept clear for emergency vehicles. This is what happens when you don't notify and include the neighborhood in discussions about important and potentially disruptive plans. No one knew anything about this in the community.
Matt Carter
11:47 pm on Friday, August 31, 2012
You kidding me. The State wanted to replace the structure with a new bridge and park space with parking underneath. The community threw its arms in the air and after 14 Months of getting no where in the design the state finally decided to agree with what the community wanted. In 4 Years when traffic is worse remember who designed this mess... YOUR COMMUNITY!!!
ATTENTION MASSDOT BUILD A NEW BRIDGE NOT A ROADWAY!!!!
Michael Halle
10:14 pm on Saturday, September 1, 2012
Matt,
Your take on the Casey design process is, I believe, a misreading of the history of the project.
About five years ago, the DCR, then in control of the bridge, found out that the structure had significant defects. They commissioned a report to deal with fixing those defects. The report had no public input and included several serious shortcomings (for instance, not considering a smaller bridge or improving the inefficient surface roadway). That report suggested rebuilding the bridge as is.
Following that report, the DCR's bridges were put under control of MassDOT, which has much more experience dealing with such structures. They did a followup study and found the bridge was in worse condition than previously thought due to inherent design defects.
That study eventually led to the Casey being included in the Commonwealth's Accelerated Bridge repair program, which kicked off the current community process.
As for your view of that process, I can only say that is doesn't align at all with what I witnessed as part of either the working meetings or the public meetings. I don't know many people who would say that the community "designed" the current plan.
MassDOT is responsible for the designs, period.
Todd Consentino
4:17 pm on Saturday, September 1, 2012
I'm confused. You're surprised there was traffic on Labor Day weekend on Friday @ rush hour, on the biggest moving day of the year with one lane of the Casey Overpass shut down? Yet, by 6pm, there was no traffic snarl on the surface streets surrounding Casey. I think you may be overreacting a wee bit.
Mary Mulvey Jacobson
5:04 pm on Saturday, September 1, 2012
I have lived here my entire life and I never ever saw traffic like that, Fridays of holiday weekends or not, the traffic was never that bad. At evening rush house, the traffic is a bit heavy going towards West Roxbury and beyond on Centre Street but not so bad from the West Roxbury/Dedham area towards JP on Centre is lighter and reversed in the morning. This past Friday, the traffic was jambed up BOTH ways. Incredible.
Todd Consentino
5:31 pm on Saturday, September 1, 2012
Not sure I agree with you. Rush hour traffic was gone by six pm. One can't ask for much more than that.