Nahant Causeway repairs in home stretch

NAHANT – It’s a smooth homestretch for Nahant residents now that the new, inbound lane of the causeway opened Friday afternoon.”This is the best news we’ve had all summer,” said Selectman Richard Lombard on Friday. “This [lane] was the most difficult part, and probably better than 50 or 60 percent of the project is done.”The $20 million project officially got underway June 10, 2010, and will reconstruct the 1.5-mile long causeway connecting Nahant and Lynn.The project involves widening causeway road lanes, installing historic-style light posts and providing a 4-foot-wide bicycle riding shoulder and sidewalks along the 1.5-mile, four-lane road.The inbound lane opened at approximately 3 p.m. Friday, and completed the longest individual phase – and the phase that required the most intricate engineering n of the project, said James Caputo of the Department of Conservation and Recreation.Caputo said that the project originally called for just patching the seawall and road, but they decided to essentially redo the wall’s entire face and top to prevent the waves from crashing over the roadway.To do this “revetment” work, construction workers essentially shifted the road toward the beach, he said.Contractors also had to engineer a drainage system that could both drain the roadway efficiently and that was strong enough to withstand the constant pressure applied by surging tides, officials said.”The 65 drains on that side were all crushed and broken,” Lombard said. “Now they’ve got that all fixed so the drainage is fixed and there won’t be a problem [with flooding].”Police Lt. Thomas Hutton said that construction workers are planning to shut down the former northbound lane – which was the temporary southbound lane – within the week and begin repairs on that section.