Revere councilors want local bridges inspected by state

REVERE – City Council members want to make sure local bridges, including several already slapped with use restriction warnings, are safe.Councilors at large John Correggio and Daniel Rizzo will ask for stepped-up inspections of local bridges and highway overpasses during next Tuesday’s 6 p.m. council meeting.The meeting was originally scheduled for last Monday but cancelled because of the snowstorm.Correggio and Rizzo, the council’s new vice president, also want local bridges under Massachusetts Highway Department jurisdiction posted with height-restriction and weight-limitation signs.The requests stem from damage done last Dec. 26 to the Revere Beach Parkway overpass above Broadway. A piece of machinery sticking up from a trash truck passing under the span knocked loose granite blocks.Inspectors determined the bridge did not sustain structural damage but the accident snarled post-Christmas commuter traffic.Ward 4 Councilor George Rotondo wants the state to ensure the bridge’s structural soundness by stringing a net under the bridge to prevent birds from roosting beneath it.Two rickety bridges spanning Revere railroad tracks are under weight restrictions so severe local fire trucks avoid one of them.The Railroad Avenue bridge spanning the commuter rail tracks near Revere Beach Parkway and another span crossing the Blue Line subway tracks near Winthrop Avenue are under vehicle weight restrictions barring heavy trucks, even fire engines, from using them.In addition, State Police monitor the Winthrop Avenue bridge to ensure heavy trucks, including the tankers traveling to-and-from Irving and Global Oil on Lee Burbank Highway, do not use the bridge.Bus drivers are urged to stay to the extreme right as they drive across the bridge and fire trucks are considered a weight threat to the span.The Revere Street bridge, owned by the Massachusetts Highway Department, reopened last Friday after a year-and-a-half reconstruction.