Nahant Causeway work closes Long Beach parking lot

NAHANT – Construction officials shifted the two outbound lanes of the causeway to the middle of the road Friday to begin work – originally scheduled for this summer – that temporarily closes a section of the parking lot along Long Beach.”We were supposed to close it in the summer for the next phase, but we worked around it so we didn’t have to,” said James Caputo, Department of Conservation and Recreation resident engineer for the causeway project. “We will be working on what was once was the outbound lane and doing all the ? grading of the area, and also working in the parking lot at the beach, adjacent to the Tides.”The $20 million project officially got under way June 10, 2010 and is reconstructing the 1.5-mile long causeway connecting Nahant and Lynn. The project includes improvements to the road surface and sidewalks, rebuilding the barrier of sloping rocks that absorbs and dissipates the energy of breaking waves and re-engineering drainage along the road.Construction officials said in reconstructing the roadway, workers essentially work from Lynn Harbor to Long Beach doing all but the superficial finishing touches – such as the top coat of pavement, median strips, sidewalks, etc. – before they shift again to the east. Drainage work on what will become the new inbound lanes ended in August. Then crews began preparing what will be the middle of the road dominated by the median strip.Friday afternoon, that middle section became the outbound lanes to Lynn. This allows crews to improve drainage to the parking lot and a section of the final outbound lane, as well as reconfigure the entrance to Long Beach by the Tides Restaurant.This work, however, will require temporarily closing the free parking lot between the Tides parking area and the location of the booth where visitors pay for parking.Pihl Inc. Project Manager Dante Roberto said that an entrance, perhaps a jug handle, will be temporarily constructed so that people can access the remainder of the beach parking in the summer.But for now, parking will be limited, although Caputo said that a walking path wide enough for emergency vehicle access has been set off so that walkers can still access the beach.”We’re trying to tailor (construction) to public needs,” Roberto said.He noted that they wanted to work on the parking area when fewer people would want to access the beach, both for the safety of residents and construction workers.Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected].