Resident Opinion Drives Design For Haverhill’s Basiliere Bridge Rebuild

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A feeling of civic pride was palpable at last night’s Harbor Place hearing for the new Pfc. Ralph T. Basiliere Bridge.

The mostly white-haired attendees who packed the UMass Lowell Innovation Hub seemed pleased. Crescent Yacht Club Commodore Rick LeBlanc said to state officials and their partners from the private sector, “I spent the first half of my career standing where you are,” noting how many fewer residents were present when he went to similar hearings across the country.

“You showed up the first meeting and you had this atrocious bridge with three lanes and the people in Haverhill and the people in Bradford said, ‘That’s not what we want. We want four lanes. We want some towers. We want this. We want that,’ and you’ve come through with everything that the people have asked for,” he added. Fellow attendees applauded.

Transportation department officials and consultants presented a preliminary draft, a so-called 25% plan, which replaces the existing structure originally built in 1925. With construction projected to begin in late 2025 or early 2026 and last five years, the bridge will always offer two lanes of traffic. Designers aim to marry modernity and history in the aesthetics of the new bridge.

Architect Etty Padmodipoetro thanked the audience for their civic engagement, which she said “anchored” the design process—as well as making it more fun for her.

“It used to be two cities,” she said. “There’s Bradford, and there’s Haverhill, and this bridge has to be more than just something that you go and pass through. One of the comments that we heard was, this has something to be something special. This is an opportunity to express that kind of connection between the two communities.”

Her firm, Urban Idea Lab, requires each design element to have a purpose, Padmodipoetro said. She realized the significance of pillars on top of the bridge lay in “marking that connection in the middle of the bridge,” which also offers a lookout area for pedestrians. Though the current towers must be fully demolished because of their material, their iconic tops will be preserved as roofs on gazebos in riverbank green space. The beacons visible in models are placeholders for the final vertical elements.

At night a purplish glow will emanate from lights on the bridge, according to a rendering Padmodipoetro provided. “You really focus on the arch itself. It starts to frame the river,” she said.

Managers laid out a rough timeline for the project, which is expected to cost the federal and state governments $150 million. First, one side of the bridge will be shut down to allow workers to widen the other side, so it can accommodate two lanes while its counterpart is demolished. The remaining half will be rebuilt in the same way. A final stage, which allows three lanes for traffic, is required for a bicycle lane.

After finalizing the design, the state will begin seeking a company to build the bridge this fall.