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Our Legacy Of Neglect: The Longfellow Bridge And The Cost Of Deferred Maintenance, David Westerling, Steve Poftak
Our Legacy Of Neglect: The Longfellow Bridge And The Cost Of Deferred Maintenance, David Westerling, Steve Poftak
Civil Engineering Faculty Publications
The Longfellow Bridge, connecting Boston and Cambridge, is in bad shape, due not only to its age and the ravages of our weather, but also to a troubling and persistent lack of maintenance. Fixing the bridge, in effect paying the bill for our unwillingness to maintain it, is estimated to cost at least $180 million, with the potential for cost overruns reaching into the hundreds of millions. The neglect of the Longfellow Bridge is symptomatic of a problem that encompasses almost all the assets owned by the Commonwealth.