NEWBURY — A new Route 1A bridge over the Parker River could open to traffic months earlier than originally forecast, according to state legislators monitoring the span's reconstruction.
State Rep. Harriett Stanley, D-West Newbury, and Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, sent out a joint e-mail message to constituents this week with what they called "good news" about the bridge reconstruction project supervised by the Massachusetts Highway Department.
"The project is still on schedule, and MassHighway has just authorized an additional work order to allow more work hours and additional equipment," the legislators said in their letter. "As a result, we now have MassHighway's best estimate that the bridge may be reopened to traffic in late spring or early summer 2009. That best estimate assumes that there are not any hidden problems going forward."
Original estimates were that the work wouldn't be done until November, 2009.
An early reopening "could maximize the summer boating season for all who enjoy the river and save many gallons of gasoline for those who regularly cross the bridge," Stanley and Tarr said in their e-mail.
Accelerating the work also adds to the cost. According to MassHighway, the total project budget now stands at $14.75 million.
Stanley and Tarr represent Newbury and Rowley, the two towns most affected by the bridge project.
The 77-year-old span was closed by MassHighway Sept. 27 in preparation for what was expected to be a two-year, $14.1 million reconstruction project.
The replacement of the Parker River bridge was initially projected to take four years, but the original plans called for keeping one lane of traffic open at all times.
However, in spring 2007, MassHighway inspectors said they noticed significant deterioration in the support beams that would be needed to keep a lane of traffic flowing on one side of the bridge or the other. Traffic was reduced to a single lane in the center of the span, regulated by a light, on May 2, 2007.
The project is further complicated by a condition in the Coast Guard permit, which prohibits any work in the river itself between Feb. 1 and June 30, in order to protect the habitat of several species of fish.
Construction crews have been working inside cofferdams in the river — watertight structures that create dry spaces for work — to prepare the old piers for demolition and removal.
MassHighway spokesman Adam Hurtubise yesterday said explosives would be used in the demolition.
"We're going to be using explosives to surgically fracture the existing piers," he said, adding the holes have been drilled in the pilings for the placement of small charges.
He said the first detonation would be on May 29.
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