Beverly Depot Pedestrian Bridge

Project Overview:

SPS New England was tasked by the MBTA to perform a full replacement of Beverly Station’s pedestrian bridge connecting the station’s platform to the parking garage. Years prior to the project, SPS responded to a structural emergency after a truck hit the bridge. In the short-term crews installed a shoring system to stabilize the structure. The Beverly Station Pedestrian Bridge Replacement project included a full removal of the existing bridge span, installation of a new bearing system, removal and replacement of a custom canopy system and the addition of clearance warning signage the bridge and surrounding area.

Key Challenges Overcome:

To limit impacts to the public’s accessibility to the station, a very short duration closure to the pedestrian bridge made this project very challenging. Coordination with project shareholders, pre-planning, and execution was pivotal to the success of this project. A precast bridge unit (PBU) was fabricated prior to the start of work which allowed the crew to remove the existing bridge span and install a fully constructed bridge span in two nights. The removal and reinstallation of an existing custom canopy system also proved to be a critical component to the success of the project.

Interesting Facts / Figures

This project was just one of many work orders within SPS’s MBTA Structural On-Call Contracts. Often times SPS is performing emergency and on-call work within a tight schedule, at night and during weeks to minimize impacts the public using MBTA’s transportation. The critical picks were both performed at night during the weekend to avoid impacting trains on the adjacent track.