Finally!!!!!!!

After two years and 9 months of nonstop road construction, neverending traffic delays due to one lane and noise that you could hear all the way at my house, the new bridge over the Cohasset Narrows has finally opened.  It was originally just one small bridge, one lane in either direction. They started building the new bridge on the left side in April, 2012.  Once it was finished, the lanes were shifted over to that side as the old bridge was demolished and rebuilt.  

The delays were really quite maddening at times as it would be down to one lane with a cop directing alternating traffic.  I would often take a longer detour around Buttermilk Bay to get to and from Wareham.

This project was supposed to have been completed by September, 2014 but there were multiple delays.  We had a horribly snowy winter last year, and at one point all work stopped because they had to redesign it to account for the tide changes.  You'd think they would have considered that at the beginning of the project.

 So now you can walk across it on both sides.  That's the little beach I often walk to from my house.

New lights too.

Another shot of Buttermilk Bay.

Crossed over to the other side.  Those are the railroad tracks and in the distance, the windmill at Mass Maritime Academy.

I think the most maddening part of this project, for me anyway, was in December after it was paved and appeared to be open at last, they kept tinkering with it for like 2 weeks, putting the traffic cones down to do god knows what.  You'd see the workers but it was hard to tell what exactly they were doing.  All I know is that I'd reached the end of my tether and patience with the nonstop delays and narrow lanes.  But finally all the cones were removed, the trucks left and it was open. I still see workers on it....like the day I shot these pictures there was a survey crew.

It was a really nice day though....not terribly cold, so I had to get out and take a nice long walk.  You don't get opportunities like that in winter very often!

Do click on this to make bigger so that the stars show up!

One last look at the new bridge from the beach before I headed home.

I'm so glad this project is finally done.  Now if they would just finish painting the Sagamore Bridge (another project started in what seems like the Clinton administration but was probably 2011), we'd really be in business.