The city of Quincy today moved its battle against a new Long Island Bridge into court, asking a judge to overturn the state's approval of Boston's proposed bridge reconstruction, which would let Boston rebuild the addiction-treatment facilities it used to run on the island.
Although Long Island is part of Boston, the bridge connects with the mainland in Quincy. Boston shut the bridge in 2014 as unsafe and tore down the roadway in 2015. It has been trying since to rebuild the span and re-open Long Island as a public-health campus.
In its suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, Quincy argues the state Department of Environmental Protection approved a shoddy, cheap inspection and construction method that could mean the bridge could collapse - there's just no way to tell, Quincy alleges - and that Boston should be dealt with severely for, among other things, failing to register its plans with over the decades with the registries of deeds in two counties and failing to seek approval from MassDOT for the work.
And rising sea levels means the state should have considered new data on whether the bridge would remain safe for ships passing under it, but did not, Quincy charges.
In its complaint, Quincy charges that Boston's plan to reuse supports built for the original bridge in 1950 is flawed, in part because it performed "only limited testing on some (not all) of the concrete piers," which is alleges means there's no accurate measurement of potential damage from "decades-long alkali-silica reaction and freeze-thaw conditions resulting from saltwater inundation and exposure in the marine environment for over 70 years."
And then, Quincy continued, Boston wrangled state approval of a plan to make any repairs via "limpets," box-like structures that do not go below the mud line, where there might be even more lurking problems, rather than installing "coffer dams" around each support so that the piers can be fully exposed for detailed examinations that would show whether more extensive work might be needed.
Quincy charged that Boston failed to properly records its original 1950 construction with the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds and a 2015 state approval to re-do utility connections to the island with the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds.
For all these problems and more - the state wouldn't let Quincy use engineers licensed somewhere other than Massachusetts to provide expert testimony, for example - Quincy is asking a judge to rescind the approval and tell the state to do its job correctly this time.
Complete complaint - includes a copy of the state's approval (11.6M PDF).
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Comments
Never wish poor health on anyone.
By Jiggles
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 5:11pm
But I hope Tom Koch wakes up with an itch he can’t reach tomorrow.
What an absolute petty, feckless son of a gun.
Engineers
By Sator
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 5:12pm
Expert testimony on Massachusetts projects -should- only come from MA Registered Professional Engineers.
Why would we want to muddy the waters with experts on the standards other states?
It's particularly nonsensical
By Dan S.
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 3:15am
It's particularly nonsensical as not only would they need to get a PE here in order to be allowed to testify on the project, most states' PE criteria are basically the same.
They are not testifying on principles
By Sator
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 2:17pm
They are testifying on the public health, safety, and welfare impacts of the project relative to Massachusetts code.
Basically you're saying that other state's laws are good enough for us, and basically no they are not.
That would certainly ensure
By anon
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 6:53am
That would certainly ensure bias and bribablity.
Thank You Mayor Koch
By anon
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 5:32pm
Stop these carpetbaggers any way you can. Send the migrant junkies back to wherever they came from. Make Long Island into a park which may be enjoyed by all productive citizens of the Greater Boston area.
You're probably not trying to be funny
By adamg
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 6:06pm
But you're kind of hilarious.
Where do those "migrant junkies" come from? Well, Quincy to start. Surveys of people at Mass and Cass suggest many, maybe a majority, are not from Boston. They come from across the Boston area, including, yes, Quincy.
Make Long Island into a park? That's not up to Koch. The island is not just owned by Boston, it's within Boston's city limits. So no, Tommy Koch can't make it into a park, or anything else.
quincy is a dump
By blahhh
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 12:16am
I lived in quincy for the most minimal time in 2017 to 2018. I realized quickly that it is where all of the memes about boston being a racist place come from. it is also filled with active addicts. like loads of white, non-latino addicts it is insane. if you ever see a white fetty needle bum on the red line you can assume they are from quincy. this is all fact. i think it is time for the neponset bridge to come down. we don't need *you people* coming into our city.
LOL "carpetbaggers"??
By Matthew Miller
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 12:39am
Like, as in "Oh my stars, these Yankees come to ruin our southern way of life"?
Long Island *should* be a public park
By Ron Newman
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 7:34am
The City of Boston should build and/or reopen whatever social service facilities it needs here, along with rebuilding the bridge. But whatever part of Long Island the city doesn't need for those purposes should become a public park, open 24/7 to anyone who wants to walk or bike there from Squantum. Wasn't it like that before the 1970s or 80s when the bridge condition began to deteriorate and the city began restricting access?
Re: "Migrant"
By Karl
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 8:42am
...is the new hard R and should be treated accordingly....This ain't Twitter/X. Take your racism there.
A novel concept . . . .
By g
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 7:48pm
A mayor that wants to protect a residential neighborhood from real.estate development.
That would never fly in Boston!
Gaza Riviera
By Plen-T-Pak
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 8:53am
Koch is a mini Trump who would salivate at the chance to turn that island into a luxury condo hellhole.
They don't like bridges?
By chaosjake
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 7:21pm
Fine.
Dynamite the bridge at Neponset Circle. Charge $100 to board the T at Quincy stations.
Killing the treatment centers, sober houses, and shelters at Long Island is the number one issue keeping us from combatting the opioid crisis in New England.
this bridge = social services, end of discussion?
By anon
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 11:14am
Is the remainder of New England outside this island 100% full, so there's nowhere else people can get shelter or be treated for substance abuse?
They didn't say they don't like bridges. They said Boston didn't demonstrate that this particular bridge design is safe.
million dollar book idea
By anon
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 2:40pm
Unsafe at Any Bridge: Quincy's Quest to Make Bridges Great Again.
Beat me to it
By Will LaTulippe
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 2:02pm
I've honestly never seen a tail try to wag a dog so vigorously.
Magoo sez
By MisterMagooForYoo
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 7:50pm
Magoo is going to pretend Magoo is an endangered penguin and dress up in a penguin suit and take residence up on Long Island. Magoo. 🥸
If only we could sue to block
By anon
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 6:50am
If only we could sue to block Magoo.
What does Quincy do with its
By Don't Panic
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 3:20am
What does Quincy do with its drug abusers? Are their treatment centers in Quincy that they refuse to disclose to Greater Boston residents? /s
Quincy has quite a few treatment facilities and Father Bill's
By g
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 9:38am
Try going there,sometime before making ignorant statements.
Ah yes, Father Bill's. I
By CH
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 12:35pm
Ah yes, Father Bill's. I assume they do good work there, but I know it mostly as the only place anybody ever mentions by name that's in Quincy, so I'm really forced to assume it's... the only place. One is better than zero I suppose but it's also making the OP's point.
And many others
By g
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 9:53pm
South Shore Mental Health
Volunteers of America
Aspire.mental health
Harbour
.And more
.
.
WWJAD?
By CopleyScott17
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 3:51am
I don't think John Adams would approve of Mayor Koch.
He's abusing his eminent domain powers
By Plen-T-Pak
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 9:09am
To seize a local business just to tear it down and build a park to commemorate the former president, right across the street from a park that commemorates the former president. Dude's out of his mind.
can't blame them but suit will lose
By deselby
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 6:25am
but every day the bridge is delayed is another day in her life that Granny Bridget in Squantum doesn't have to put up with construction trucks, and eventually buses.
Memories are short. The buses
By anon
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 10:46am
Memories are short. The buses were going there for years, seemingly without complaint.
Let's waste lots of money!
By necturus
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 8:52am
The city of Quincy is wasting its taxpayers' dollars suing the city of Boston, which will now have to waste its taxpayers' dollars defending the suit, all the while delaying the project, which will probably cost everybody even more money.
Maybe that character in Shakespeare's play was right about lawyers.
Except that's not the context
By Rob
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 9:07am
Except that's not the context/meaning of the Shakespeare quote.
In Shakespeare, "first, kill all the lawyers" was a reference to & recognition of lawyers as part of the underpinning of society, essential to correct functioning of society.
Take a look at our happy little nation today. Lawyers and (some of the) courts are our only functioning line of defense. Yes, your mileage may vary.
If Trump could, he'd get rid of the lawyers, too - ones that he doesn't personally license, anyway.
Climate change? Seriously?
By anon
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 10:41am
The amount of sea level rise that is greater than the amount the tide goes up and down each day will be more than enough to wipe out most of Quincy, Squatdom first!
Insane levels of nonsense from this crowd. There was a bridge there before.
Looking at what the article
By Rob
Sat, 02/08/2025 - 1:00am
Looking at what the article said...
I don't think they were saying sea level rise would be unsafe to the existing bridge piers.
I think they (just possibly grasping at straws, throwing stuff at the wall, etc...) were trying to say "Hey, if you rebuild the exact same old bridge, with the identical main span on the existing piers, then sea level rise means there will be one foot less vertical clearance at high tide than there used to be and therefore the ferry boats will Storrow themselves!"
...so the new bridge would need to be higher to have greater vertical clearance, which means designing new piers, which takes more time to argue about, then gets approved, then someone files an argument that the taller bridge will disrupt the migration route of the rare shanty Osprey and so it needs to be studied by Environmental Conservation, then someone files an argument with the FAA that construction of the taller bridge will interfere with the approach patterns for Logan Airport and so it needs to be studied, etc...
Looking at what the article
By Rob
Sat, 02/08/2025 - 1:03am
Looking at what the article said...
I don't think they were saying sea level rise would be unsafe to the existing bridge piers.
I think they (just possibly grasping at straws, throwing stuff at the wall, etc...) were trying to say "Hey, if you rebuild the exact same old bridge, with the identical main span on the existing piers, then sea level rise means there will be one foot less vertical clearance at high tide than there used to be and therefore the ferry boats will Storrow themselves!"
...so the new bridge would need to be higher to have greater vertical clearance, which means designing new piers, which takes more time to argue about, then gets approved, then someone files an argument that the taller bridge will disrupt the migration route of the rare shanty Osprey and so it needs to be studied by Environmental Conservation, then someone files an argument with the FAA that construction of the taller bridge will interfere with the approach patterns for Logan Airport and so it needs to be studied, etc...
Climate Change???
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 12:05pm
Have these people ever looked at a tide chart for the area?
We ain't the Bay of Fundy but if our low tide swallowed the megasurge from Superstorm Sandy then navigation won't exactly be impeded by the amount of sea level rise needed to swallow Squantum and then some.
https://www.tideschart.com/United-States/Massachusetts/Suffolk-County/Sq...
So much animosity towards each other...
By BlueJay
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 12:08pm
No wonder we ended up with a xenophobic hate monger as president. Has it ever occurred to any of you to try to respectfully explain your position and try to understand where everyone is coming from? Maybe we could start meeting in the middle instead of knocking all the pieces off the board like children who are angry about losing at Monopoly?
Neoliberal tone police
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 8:24pm
We tried that for the last 20 or so years. It didn't fucking work. The stupidity got stupider.
Take your little temperance lectures to the Herald comment section. See how far that gets you.
Or, as Jim Hightower said "Ain't nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and dead armadillos".
Long Island Bridge
By plt3012
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 12:43pm
This is just my thoughts on this. I can understand Quincy's concerns about this. I think the reality of a rebuilt bridge (and it will be rebuilt) is not so much the reopening of the shelter/rehab programs, but instead the real possibility that monied interests will come sniffing around and offer to build these facilities off island and put up another, bigger Marina Bay type location. Of course, the new shelter/rehab would be located in an area around Massachusetts & Melnea Cass Avenues (or some other neighborhood that can't muster a strong enough opposition).
The people living in Squantum will be dealing with a much-increased volume of traffic on streets that are not anywhere near capable of handling the traffic.
Quincy is fighting a losing battle. It's coming.
So Because of Some Conspiracy Theory
By Pete X
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 2:16pm
The actual, long public plan for re-opening the treatment center should be ignored?
Screw all those people who need help because something something something... magic condos for the rich! Gasp!
Really
By Paul B
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 1:19pm
Is the only way of delivering services to substance addicted people is to bring them to an island? Couldn't all the money being spent in court or on a bridge be spent getting services delivered now? In 2041 will break ground on the new facility. Apparently being able to pivot and do something else is not considered. Politicians think legacy project, their name in granite, they are addicted to ego.
NIMBY
By John z
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 5:22pm
File under NIMBY!!!!
People in need
By Let send'emro Quincy
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 7:22pm
Boston should send all the people in need to Quincy. That'll get them to support the bridge real quick.
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