A quarter-billion dollar effort to replace the Basiliere Bridge across the Merrimack River in downtown Haverhill, Mass., with a new span was approved on July 30, 2025, by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) board of directors.

The project is designed to include wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes and an improved connection to the Bradford Rail Trail on the city's southern riverbank.

The current Basiliere Bridge connects Mass. Highway 125/Main Street over the river from Haverhill's downtown on the northern bank to its Bradford neighborhood on the southern bank. The existing structure was built in 1925 and suffers from deteriorating arches and a potholed bridge deck.

StreetsblogMASS, an online news site, reported Aug. 1, 2025, that the new span will be slightly wider, with a similarly-sized roadway and expanded side paths separated from the street with curbs and guardrails.

The bridge replacement will be performed by Littleton, Mass.-based Middlesex Corp., which submitted the lowest bid among three shortlisted design-build firms. The construction contract is worth $215 million, and contingency costs will bring the project's total budget to $251 million.

According to StreetsblogMASS, Middlesex's bid was approximately $25 million, or 13 percent, above MassDOT's initial estimate for the project.

When the state transportation agency's board members asked about the discrepancy between the department's estimate and the actual bids, Frank Welch, MassDOT's deputy director of major projects, said, "it is a pretty complex project in downtown Haverhill."

He said that the lack of a laydown area, in addition to several complex utility relocations, promised to add time to the project and led to the higher bid amount.

The construction will proceed in stages so that at least one sidewalk and two lanes of motor vehicle traffic will remain open throughout the project.

Plans call for demolishing one half of the old bridge, then building that section of the new structure in its place before shifting traffic onto it. Following that, the remainder of the bridge will be razed so crews can complete the rest of the span.

The project's footprint includes the bridge and its two nearest intersections: On the north shore at Main, Water and Merrimack streets; and at South Main and Middlesex street, across the river to the south. MassDOT noted that work also will take place along a short section of Main Street between Merrimack Street and Ginty Boulevard.

Beloved Basiliere Bridge Has Serviced Area Well

Officially known as the PFC Ralph T. Basiliere Bridge, the current structure carries Mass. 125/Main Street across the river on seven spans.

Despite its advanced age, it serves as a vital connector for the northeast Massachusetts city. Indeed, more than 25,000 vehicles traverse the Basiliere Bridge each day, including cars, heavy trucks, school buses and Merrimack Valley Transit Authority (MEVA) buses.

MassDOT noted that every part of the bridge reveals the heavy wear of a full century of service — even those components that users cannot see are in poor condition.

For instance, the structure's foundations have been severely scoured due to the Merrimack River's current constantly wearing away the bridge's piers. As a result, the riverbed around the piers also is eroding.

Frequent inspections and repairs keep the span safe for its users, MassDOT maintains, but have a real impact on the traveling public.

Modern Designs Promise New Source of Pride for Haverhill

The new Basiliere Bridge is the result of a partnership between MassDOT and the Haverhill community — one working to produce a structure that reflects its host community and can be as much of a source of pride as the old bridge has been for the last 100 years.

The major design elements of the replacement bridge that are direct results of this partnership include:

• an arched appearance that references the existing Basiliere Bridge;

• under-bridge lighting that highlights the span's arches at night;

• vertical beacons that echo the existing bridge's towers and can be lit at night;

• a central seating area to invite Haverhill community members to the bridge for enjoyable views of the Merrimack River;

• a formally defined, four-lane cross-section with separate bicycle and pedestrian facilities; and

• reuse of the existing bridge's tower roofs in the Bradford Rail Trail Park.

A new bridge will meet MassDOT's project goals by:

• serving Haverhill's current and future traffic needs;

• improving cycling and walking conditions;

• improving the Merrimack River's water quality;

• reducing the number of piers in the river;

• allowing continued boating on the Merrimack during and after construction;

• minimizing impacts to nearby properties;

• supporting utilities while the new bridge is being built;

• providing opportunities for accelerated construction methods to reduce the project's impacts;

• providing a look which reflects the old bridge while embracing the modern; and

• reconstructing a local landmark.

MassDOT hopes to begin the bridge replacement in the fall of 2025. Welch told its board members that the construction project is expected last more than six years, until winter 2032.