Back in October, the Mass Water Resource Authority (MWRA) sent a crew out for what they thought was a quick simple job – repair the stairs from Echo Bridge down to Ellis St. Once the carpenters began pulling up the rotted wood they realized that the underlying wrought iron frame that supported the stairs was in very bad shape.
The stairs remained close for the last three months while the MWRA tried to figure out how to deal with it. Repairing the wrought iron structure would be a very expensive job and they had no budget for it.
Last week they came up with a practical solution – leave the wrought iron alone, and just build wooden supports where the metal frame was in tough shape. The work’s now complete and the stairs are open again.
Thanks go to the MWRA for figuring out a workable and practical solution and getting it done.
AsI noted on the previous thread, the MWRA has also found practical common sense solutions to other problems with the bridge. They fixed the echo station under the bridge and added a “temporary”snow fence insie the rusted railigs rather than spend a fortune and cause an environmental disaster by replacing them.
@Jerry: Once again, you are being too modest. Clearly your charm offensive with the MWRA (oh, and the fear Village 14 strikes in the heart of bureaucrats everywhere) played a part here.
Ions are indeed mightier than the sword.
Jerry. Perhaps you moved some spirits to get the State to act as quickly and as wisely as they did. A few months back, I was walking over Echo Bridge and ran into a man who I saw briskly running up and down those stairs several times as part of some kind of aerobic exercise. He told me he did this several times a week. I wonder if he would have been pounding those steps so hard if he knew about these underlying conditions.