With a series of beeps, first motorist drives over the River Street Bridge in Hyde Park in more than two years

Shortly before 7:40 p.m. MassDOT workers removed barrels on the Gordon Avenue side of the River Street Bridge in Cleary Square and let the first driver back on the bridge since it was shut in May, 2022 because it was falling apart.

The driver beeped all the way across the short span and until he got to Hyde Park Avenue, where he turned left. Not long after, workers removed the barrels and "ROAD CLOSED" sign on the Hyde Park Avenue side and the first driver in 2 1/2 years to head up towards Gordon turned right from Hyde Park Avenue.

For the next five or ten minutes, the air was filled with the sound of beeping as drivers realized they could once again take the short way to and from Cleary Square and beeped in celebration over the span.

The repairs, meant to be temporary until the state can install a permanent replacement for the 19th-century bridge at some undetermined date in the future, were complicated by the fact that crews initially had only 90 minutes a night to work because Amtrak, whose main line to New York runs right under it, declined to reroute trains via the Fairmount Line, which would have required swapping in diesel locomotives for the electric engines the railroad normally uses.

The newly re-opened bridge means an end to long detours for people trying to drive into or through Cleary Square - and traffic jams that required rush-hour BPD details along West Street and Hyde Park Avenue.

Before they re-opened the bridge tonight, BTD workers and contractors first had to fiddle with the traffic-light control box in front of the Boston Restaurant Bar & Grill on Hyde Park Avenue, strip off the tape that had long covered the signals that allowed turns from Hyde Park Avenue - and from the bridge itself - and take out the cones that had blocked cars from the freshly repainted left-turn lane from Hyde Park Avenue onto the bridge.

Among those who stood at the intersection for more than 90 minutes watching the work: City Councilor Enrique Pepén and state Rep. Rob Consalvo, both of whom represent Hyde Park.