Environmental advocates in Chelsea, Mass., say they are seeing less toxic lead paint chips fall to the ground from the Maurice J. Tobin Bridge due to mitigation efforts the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) put into place after hearing calls for action.
The agency installed temporary netting in July that has been catching chips, and frequent vacuuming has collected the flakes that fall to the ground, the Boston Herald reported Sept. 13. Inspections also are being conducted weekly.
These strategies are in place as MassDOT has its eyes on a much larger project that would clean the 2-mi.-long bridge and replace its decades-old paint with new coatings.
The Tobin Bridge carries U.S. Highway 1 traffic over the Mystic River between Boston and Chelsea.
The effort, estimated to last up to four years and cost $127.9 million, also would repair the steel and concrete on the three-span double-deck cantilevered truss bridge, first opened to traffic in 1950.
Residents, Environmentalists Happy to See Action
GreenRoots, a community-based environmental justice organization, is one of the groups providing insight to MassDOT on what residents would like to see be accomplished to better protect the community while the project is under construction.
"We are very appreciative of their commitment to ensuring that there's mitigation from the lead paint chips that have been falling off," Sara Aman, GreenRoots' interim co-deputy director, told the Herald.
In the 1970s, lead was found in the Mystic River and in neighborhoods near the bridge. As a result, some of the city's children were monitored for years as the subjects of a study on the effects of lead exposure during development.
The Boston news source reported that residents grew concerned earlier this year when they started finding paint chips in their yards and on the sidewalks surrounding the Tobin Bridge. Lab testing showed toxic amounts of lead contained in the flakes that are stripped from the structure by weather and time, causing them to rain down onto the homes and streets across the city.
"Moving forward," Aman explained, "what we would really love is making sure that there's always meaningful engagement and prioritization of environmental justice communities from the very beginning as opposed to letting toxic dumps and lead in our communities and addressing it afterwards."
Mike O'Dowd, MassDOT's director of major projects, said there would be no permanent lane closures on the bridge during construction and no impacts to adjacent roadways. Coordination also would take place with nearby construction projects, such as the Washington Street Bridge replacement in Boston's North End and ongoing Sumner Tunnel renovation, he said.
"The public process has been critical in this just to ensure that [MassDOT] is taking all steps to ensure the health and safety of the residents of the city of Chelsea," noted O'Dowd. "There will be a comprehensive public outreach."
Issue Not Unique to Tobin Bridge
According to MassDOT, for decades lead paint was the industry standard for all steel structures in the United States that required painting, and it is estimated that 30 percent of the country's steel structures are still coated with the toxic paint.
In 1978, paint containing the lead was suspended for American residential use but was allowed to continue for commercial and industrial applications. Finally, its use was largely suspended in 1992 on most steel structures, including bridges.
Construction on the the Tobin Bridge, New England's largest, first began in April 1948 and after its completion has been painted many times since. However, due to its proximity to the sea and Massachusetts' often brutal winters, that old paint has become brittle.
MassDOT noted that the state's winters over the last several years, including the last freeze-thaw cycle this past year, have caused more delamination, or material fracturing, of the bridge's paint than was typical, causing more paint chips to flake off and fall to the ground.
It is a condition common to all New England states that have lead-paint coated structures, the agency noted.
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