Select Demo wheeled excavator on the Maffa Way bridge deck during the closure, with the Schrafft Center behind.

Boston and Somerville, Massachusetts

Maffa Way / Mystic Avenue Bridges

Two-phase superstructure and substructure removal with asbestos abatement over the MBTA Orange Line for Skanska.

Overview

Select Demo was contracted by Skanska's Heavy-Civil Division to perform two phases of demolition and asbestos abatement as part of the MassDOT / MBTA Maffa Way / Mystic Avenue Bridge Superstructure Replacement Project. The project replaced two deteriorated superstructures carrying vehicles and pedestrians over the MBTA's Orange Line and Commuter Rail in Boston and Somerville.

Scope

Removal and disposal of the entire superstructure of both bridges: bituminous wearing surface, concrete decks, steel stringers and diaphragms, bearings, railings, and bridge utilities
Reinforced concrete substructure removal: piers, backwalls, and abutments
Phase 2 asbestos abatement: four 4-inch transite pipes and asbestos conduit crossing Maffa Way

Approach

Steel beams were picked by cranes staged on each abutment and lowered for processing. Deck and substructure concrete was removed by excavator with containment over the active tracks below. Abatement was sequenced ahead of structural removal so that closure windows were used for demolition alone.