“The goal of this project is to address poor conditions at the older structure and improve safety along the I-195/Route 18 interchange.” According to the MassDOT website.

The project consists of replacing the I-195 series bridges from County Street to the Route 18 Acushnet Street Interchange, all five of which were built in 1965 and see a total of 75,000 vehicles per day.

There will be two main phases of construction, and two lanes will be opened in each direction in each phase.

This also includes replacing inadequate bridge abutments and abutments, replacing ramp bridges, widening merge lanes, extending ramps, and building a new stormwater drainage system for DOT infrastructure.

The federal DOT individually rates bridge components from one to nine, including the roadway for traffic, the main portion of the bridge above ground, and the bridge’s underground support system.

outside New Bedford Of the 37 bridges, six were rated poor, meaning all their components were rated four or lower. Twenty-seven were rated fair and four were rated good.

Talia Lissauer can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Instagram @_ttphotos.