Bridge Rehabilitation Project Designer

Lowell Bridge Preservation
2023 RAISE Grant Application
February 2023
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Lowell, Massachusetts is known as the
"Birthplace of the American Industrial
Revolution," resulting in its designation in the
late 1970s as the first urban National Park
celebrating the country's industrial heritage.
Located 25 miles northwest of Boston, Lowell is
a city of 115,441 residents within the Boston,
MA-NH-RI Urban Area. Chief among Lowell's
significant historic resources is an unparalleled,
intact 5.6 mile network of power canals. Further,
Lowell is bisected by the Merrimack and
Concord Rivers, and is home to the Black, River
Meadow, Beaver and Claypit Brooks, creating
both beautiful vistas and limited crossing
opportunities. An unusual legacy of the power
canals' otherwise celebrated heritage is that a
series of vehicular and pedestrian bridges
connect the business and commercial heart of
Downtown Lowell to the adjacent Acre and Back Central neighborhoods, the campuses of the
University of Massachusetts Lowell and the Merrimack Community College, the Lowell National
Historical Park. Further, these bridges are key links and the regional roadway network to the
regional transportation network of Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. The City
of Lowell maintains over 110 bridges within 14.5 square miles. Six of only seven bridges across
the Merrimack River between U.S. Route 3 and Interstate 93 (approximately fifteen miles apart
along the river) are found in Lowell.
Four bridges within the City of Lowell have been identified as in critical need of repair. Three of
the bridges carry urban arterials to access Downtown Lowell and the adjacent neighborhoods. The
Market Street Bridge over the Merrimack Canal has deteriorated to the point of necessitating
weight restrictions and sidewalk closings. The Swamp Locks Bridge over the Lower Pawtucket
Canal has been closed to vehicular traffic. Portions of the Broadway Street Bridge over the Western
Canal have been closed to pedestrian traffic. The Lawrence Street Bridge over the River Meadow
Brook has significant cracking in the substructure. Failure of any of the bridges would adversely
City of Lowell, Massachusetts - Lowell Bridge Preservation 2023 RAISE Grant Application February 2023 Page 1

impact public safety, commerce, economic development, traffic congestion, National Park
tourism, and transportation efficiency in the City to a significant degree.
The City is seeking a
$21,500,000 grant from
the 2023 RAISE Grant
program for the
rehabilitation of four
Lowell bridges to
eliminate weight
restrictions and provide
pedestrian connections
between economic
opportunity areas,
neighborhoods, education
centers, and national park
services.
1. Broadway Street over the Western Canal (L-15-033) 2. Market Street over the Merrimack Canal (L-15-044)
3. Lawrence Street over the River Meadow Brook (L-15-042) 4. Swamp Locks Pedestrian Bridge over the Lower
Pawtucket Canal
The bridges themselves are located within the boundaries of census tracts 3101, 3121, and 3883,
which are designated as Areas of Persistent Poverty. These areas are home to an extremely diverse
population, a vast majority of whom are minority and low-income households. Unemployment
rates in these tracts are also considerably higher than national averages. All of these census tracts
qualify as Environmental Justice Populations under the Environmental Justice Policy of the
Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Minority
Population Below Poverty
Census Unemployment Percentage Income Level
Tract Bridge Neighborhood Rate (2020) Percentage
3101 Market Street Bridge Downtown Lowell 5.3% 66.9% 25.6%
Swamp Locks Bridge
3121 Lawrence Street Bridge Back Central 10.2% 64.1% 29.2%
3883 Broadway Street Bridge Acre 8.7% 81.6% 48.8%
Sources: U.S. Census 2020, ACS 2017-2022, EOEEA Environmental Justice Populations
The City of Lowell is the responsible ownership party. Lack of infrastructure funding has delayed
the necessary expenditure of funds to maintain or repair/replace these structures. The City of
City of Lowell, Massachusetts - Lowell Bridge Preservation 2023 RAISE Grant Application February 2023 Page 2

Lowell has expended funding to begin the design process for all of the bridges for which capital
funding is requested. Grant funding is requested to complete the design and permitting process,
construction of the bridges, and construction administration.
Project Scope
In all cases, the new bridges will provide enhanced pedestrian and
bicycle accommodations and will remove posted weight restrictions to
allow emergency vehicles and commercial trucks to continue to utilize
the crossings. The project scope includes: Market
Street
1-Broadway Street over the Western Canal - Final design and
Bridge
permitting. Reconstruct the sidewalks and railings, construct new
bridge rails to protect pedestrians, preserve the historic stone arch with
stone replacement and repointing.
2-Market Street over the Merrimack Canal - Final design and
permitting. Reconstruct the sidewalks and railings, construct new
bridge rails to protect pedestrians, replace deteriorated concrete in the
Broadway substructure.
Street
Bridge 3-Lawrence Street over the River Meadow Brook - Final design and
permitting. Reconstruct the sidewalks and railings, construct new
bridge rails to protect pedestrians, replace deteriorated concrete in the
substructure.
4-Swamp Locks Bridge over the Lower Pawtucket Canal - Full design
and permitting. Remove current deficient bridge. Replace with new,
single span prefabricated slab-girder pedestrian bridge.
Adverse Impacts of Future Bridge Deterioration
Keeping transportation infrastructure in a state of good repair is essential to sustaining existing
transportation services, providing mobility, and supporting livable communities. Now is the time
to maintain the bridges in a state of good repair prior to their continued decline. Three of the four
bridges are currently restricted in some manner that limits vehicle or pedestrian use and access (in
some cases both). These circumstances generate significant risks and adverse impacts for the
community, the region, and interstate travel, which this project is intended to address:
Public Safety - The impending weight restrictions on the Market Street Bridge will limit the
ability of fire vehicles to cross it. Given the high density of housing, institutional, and commercial
buildings in the area served by this bridge, as well as the fact that there are dozens of buildings
that require ladder truck access to respond to fire emergencies, failure to improve the bridge would
pose significant risks to public safety and emergency response. Future weight restrictions on the
City of Lowell, Massachusetts - Lowell Bridge Preservation 2023 RAISE Grant Application February 2023 Page 3

Broadway Street Bridge and the Lawrence Street Bridge would increase response times to the
dense residential Acre and Back Central neighborhoods.
Public Transportation - The Broadway Street Bridge, the Market Street Bridge and the Lawrence
Street Bridge each carry a Lowell Regional Transit Authority (LRTA) bus route that connects
residents and employees to critical services. Future weight restrictions would prevent buses from
crossing them, resulting in circuitous detours that would complicate public transit service in the
community, create unnecessary delays and inconvenience for riders who depend on the LRTA bus
system, and make it difficult to service entire sections of the core of the City. If the bridges are
repaired and preserved by this project they will serve as key components to a more sustainable
multi-modal approach to transportation that will allow the higher education institutions to continue
to thrive and expand while eliminating threating detour impacts on traffic for underrepresented
populations who need transit or other modes of transportation to access these opportunities.
Economic Development - Additional bridge capacity restrictions will prevent commercial
vehicles, including tractor trailers and larger straight trucks from crossing the bridges. As a result
delivery and shipping services would not efficiently reach destinations in several industrial and
commercial districts in Lowell's core, artificially limiting opportunities for economic reinvestment
in a mid-sized post-industrial city as businesses choose other locations, including sites in New
Hampshire to avoid these challenges. Failure to preserve necessary infrastructure may reduce the
confidence of future investors in the Hamilton Canal Innovation District (HCID) and revitilizing
areas of Downtown. Providing a pedestrian connection via the Swamp Locks Bridge shows the
City's commitment to the HCID promise of modern urban multi-use character with deep historic
roots.
Pedestrian Safety - The sidewalks on one side of
Market
the Broadway Street Bridge and the Market Street
Street
Bridge have been closed due to advanced
Bridge
deterioration of the underlying structure or lack of
safety features. As a result, pedestrians are forced
to cross streets at dangerous locations near the
bridges. The Lowell National Historical Park
receives over 500,000 visitors annually (2018),
many of whom cross the bridges on foot to access
the Park amenities. The reconstruction of sidewalks and providing modern barriers between the
vehicle travel lanes and the sidewalks increases the safety of the Bridges for pedestrians by
maintaining a continuous path of travel, reducing required crossing movements, minimizing
vehicle and pedestrian conflicts and reducing pedestrian crashes.
Utilities - All of the bridges carry utilities across the canal system. In some cases, these are major
utility service lines serving large numbers of commercial and residential properties. If bridge
deterioration continues unabated, water, sewer, gas, and electric services may be compromised in
City of Lowell, Massachusetts - Lowell Bridge Preservation 2023 RAISE Grant Application February 2023 Page 4

large areas of Lowell. All bridges will be reconstructed within their existing footprint to minimize
impacts to the waterways.
Environmental Justice - The Broadway Street Bridge is located in Lowell's Acre neighborhood,
which has been home to successive generations of low-income immigrant communities dating to
the mid-1800s. The neighborhood remains among the poorest in Massachusetts. The Market Street
Bridge and the Swamp Locks Bridge are in Lowell's Downtown neighborhood. The Lawrence
Street Bridge is within the Back Central neighborhood, a low-income and language isolation area
with a high concentration of immigrant and second-generation populations. All are classified as
areas of persistent poverty. The condition of the bridges hamper access to economic opportunity
for these residents, having contributed to the limited economic development in the neighborhood.
New detour routes for trucks and buses around the Broadway Street and Lawrence Street Bridges
would run through the Acre and Back Central neighborhoods. This introduces significant
additional traffic and associated emissions to these areas, contributing to the disproportionately
high rates of asthma and other respiratory conditions that have been documented among Lowell
residents1. Preserving and rehabilitation the four bridges will improve quality of life within the
City, through promoting access to affordable transportation choices, creating livable communities
and neighborhoods, prioritizing public health and equitable housing and supporting economic
development.
The project forwards the initiatives within the Lowell Multimodal Complete Streets Plan, creating
a vision for the reduction of vehicular traffic within Downtown by implementing a framework to
enhance the multimodal transportation network, providing safer non-motorized and public transit
transportation alternatives.
National Park Visitor Experience - As the defining feature of the Lowell National Historical
Park, the Canal system is an essential component of the visitor experience. The Park Service
operates canal boat tours, which pass under several of these bridges and has constructed canal
walkways under and alongside several others. The conditions of the bridges impact the safety of
pedestrian visitors as well as the canal boat tours. Addressing the bridges will maintain a key
segment of the National Park's canal walkway system and preserve the safety of their canal boat
tours, in addition to restoring the aesthetics of the urban national park environment.
Impacts on the Regional Transportation Network - Because nearly all of the opportunities to
cross the Merrimack River between Route 3 and Interstate 93 are located in areas of Lowell served
by one or more of these bridges, a significant proportion of interstate and intrastate transportation
activity in the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire passes through this area and is
impacted by the increasing restrictions limiting utility of these bridges.
1 Asthma prevalence in Lowell is 15.3% among children and 14.5% among adults over 18, which compares to 12.1%
and 10.2% statewide (2022 Greater Lowell Community Health Needs Assessment)
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