The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) confirmed this week that the eventual River Street Bridge replacement project will be hinged on the Canterbury Street Bridge Replacement project, just up the way on Hyde Park Avenue.

For those who may have mentally blocked it, the River Street Bridge shut down around 2022 when engineers found it to be too unsafe to allow vehicle traffic. The detours and traffic congestion at the time were significant, and repairs went slowly, as Amtrak only allowed a few hours of construction time a night and would not stop the train traffic beneath the bridge.

The original plan was to keep it closed and replace it, which was anticipated to take until 2027 or 2028.

However, the consternation this appeared to cause – especially for the residents of the detour on Summer and Austin streets – seemed to change plans. So at the end of 2024 – two years after the closure – the state reopened the bridge after completing temporary repair work.

But the bridge still needs to be replaced, and it will still need to close for a substantial amount of time.

The plan right now, according to MassDOT, is to hold off on construction until the Canterbury Street Bridge project, further up the railroad in Roslindale, is completed.

“MassDOT completed repairs to the River Street Bridge in December of 2024, with the aim of keeping the bridge open to traffic while the nearby Canterbury Street Bridge can be replaced,” MassDOT Communications Representative Josh Goggins said. “MassDOT recently advertised the Canterbury Street bridge replacement project for bids on Aug. 22. Once a contractor has been selected, MassDOT will work to formulate a timeline for work to begin on the Canterbury Street Bridge replacement project.”

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According to MassDOT, there is no set timeline for the River Street Bridge replacement.

“Once the timeline for Canterbury Street has been finalized, MassDOT will develop a potential construction timeline for the replacement of the River Street Bridge that allows for one bridge to remain open to traffic at all times,” Goggins said. “In the meantime, the design of the River Street Bridge will continue to progress.”

The substantial completion date for Canterbury is set for 2028, so presumably the River Street Bridge project will pick up then. There are currently no design meetings scheduled for the project by MassDOT.

While there is no timeline for the bridge, the construction schedule back in 2022 for the project set it for five years – however, that included the time it would take to design the replacement. The actual construction timeline, back in 2022, was estimated at three years – https://gvimes.link/rvrst2022