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February 14, 2008

Bridge repairs to close a portion of Route 6 in Mass.

SOMERSET, Mass. -- Expect some headaches for the next two weeks if you travel between Somerset and Fall River along Route 6.

And the headaches will last even longer beginning next month if you cruise along Route 103 from Warren into Somerset.

Beginning Saturday, the Brightman Street Bridge portion of Route 6 will be closed for two weeks for emergency repairs. MassHighway needs to fix a baseball-size hole found in one of the girders.

That will cause extra traffic along the Braga Bridge portion of Route 195.

Then, the first week of March, after the Brightman is fixed, MassHighway will shut down the Route 103 bridge on the Somerset-Swansea border so it can be replaced.

Businesses near the bridge are fearing a downturn in business and Swansea officials complained today that the two-mile detour necessitated by the closure will cost precious minutes if people need to be transported to Fall River hospitals.

``To a guy in the back of an ambulance, that [two-mile detour] can be an eternity,'' said Kenneth Furtado, chairman of Swansea's Board of Selectmen.

``We're hoping to get the road open to traffic by the end of this calendar year,'' said Gerald Bernard, an assistant construction manager for MassHighway.

But, he said, that's if things go well.

-- Journal staff writer C. Eugene Emery Jr.

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 4:26 PM | Permalink

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