The new Chelsea Street Bridge being constructed is going up rapidly before our eyes, taking on a
new shape and form by the day.
Most of the initial construction and engineering is occurring on the Chelsea side of the river, with main supports being tied together and appearing more formidable from week to week.
“It is exciting to be a witness to such a great engineering project,” said John Vitagliano, a former MassPort official who is overseeing construction of the bridge for the City of Boston.
He indicated that taking down the present steel span with its concrete counterweight will be an enormous task and he indicated that contracts have already been signed with a number of contractors to cut up the steel bridge and to cart it away along with tons of cement comprising the bridge counterweight.
Vitagliano told the Record that Prolerizer in Everett will be taking down and hauling away to its
scrap metal yard the steel with which the bridge was built in the 1940’s.
In addition, he said the cement counterweight, weighing as much as 100 tons, will be destroyed in pieces by chippers using pneumatic tools with the residue then trucked away or hauled by barge.
Vitagliano said that the process will be time consuming and labor intensive.