Saugus/Lynn bridge work nears end

SAUGUS – After nearly two years of traffic disruptions and commuter tie-ups the Lincoln Avenue/Boston Street bridge project is nearly complete.And the end has not come soon enough for Spud’s General Manager Ray Desrocher.During the 22 months of construction Spud’s lost parking spaces and a couple of days of business, had a light pole come crashing down, suffered a gas leak from errant workers, which caused the fire department to break down the doors.”I’m not unhappy to see them go,” Desrocher quipped.Klark Jessen from the state highway department said the project is 90 percent done with only a handful of finishing touches to be added.Jessen said road markings still need to be added, the sidewalk finished off and a general punch list ticked off.The punch list, he explained, is more of a general check list workers go over as a way of double-checking that everything has been completed.”It’s all minor stuff,” he said. “Obviously it’s open to traffic. They should be done by the end of August.”The area has remained open to traffic throughout the entire rebuilding operation, but that doesn’t mean access to Spud’s or neighboring O’Brien’s, located on the Lynn end of the bridge, has been easy.Both restaurants often found their driveways blocked by workers, equipment or barriers, or just simply difficult to navigate.Desrocher admitted the changes looked great.”It looks nice out there,” he said. “It looks like a raceway.”Built in the late 1920s, the bridge that forms a town line between Lynn and Saugus has been failing for many years. Department of Public Works Superintendent Joseph Attubato said it took nearly two years to get the highway department to commit to the work.The project consisted of replacing and widening the entire bridge, some roadway reconstruction, putting in new bridge abutments and a new riprap embankment.The project wasn’t slated to be completed until spring of 2009 but Jessen said it would be wrapped up by the end of the month.”And we’re very happy about it,” Desrocher said.