Two-Year Revamp of ‘Structurally Deficient’ Rosemont Bridge Starts This Winter

Mayor James J. Fiorentini stands on the Rosemont Street bridge over Haverhill's Little River. (Courtesy photograph)

Mayor James J. Fiorentini stands on the Rosemont Street bridge over Haverhill’s Little River. (Courtesy photograph)

A two-year, $650,000 revamp of the “structurally deficient” Rosemont Street Bridge is set to begin this winter and run through 2020, Mayor James J. Fiorentini’s office said Friday.

The city plans to use leftover funding from the Municipal Small Bridge Program—originally earmarked for the rebuilding of the East Broadway Bridge—for Rosemont. Given $500,000 by the state to rehab the East Broadway Bridge, the City of Haverhill completed the project before it could access the state funding, choosing to instead pay for repairs on its own.

“We did an analysis of small, city-controlled bridges that showed Rosemont Street to be the bridge that is most in need to replacement, after the East Broadway Bridge,” Fiorentini said of the 16-foot overpass from 1934 that has sections that have cracked and rusted.

Carrying an estimated price tag of $650,000, the project is expected to enter the design phase this winter. Demolition of the existing bridge and construction of its replacement is planned for spring 2020, Fiorentini’s office said. The city intends to shoulder the remaining construction fees on its own once the state money dries up.

Haverhill was chosen as a recipient of municipal bridge funding based on fiscal need and impacts of the project on emergency and other service providers.