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Massachusetts Avenue Bridge

By adamg - 4/9/23 - 6:31 pm
Downtown Boston reflected in the Charles River

Downtown Boston and Beacon Hill reflected on the placid, largely boat-free, Charles River Basin around 11 a.m. today.

By adamg - 2/7/23 - 9:56 pm
Cone atop the Charles River off the Mass. Ave. bridge

Remember last year when the state used traffic cones to mark off some bike lanes on the Mass. Ave. Bridge and somebody didn't like them and tossed them onto the frozen Charles River? A roving UHub photographer discovered today that some low-energy bike-lane hater tried to replicate that, only gave up after just one cone.

By adamg - 10/24/22 - 10:51 am

StreetsblogMass reports MassDOT liked what it saw with the effectiveness of the temporary bike lanes, even if they did mean occasionally retrieving the traffic cones from the frozen Charles below, and will make the lanes permanent.

By adamg - 10/13/22 - 10:13 am
Flag on the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge

Ladybugs_Leaf spotted these flags placed along the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge today and wondered what they're for.

Adam Balsam posits they're memorials for the bike-lane-marking traffic cones that somebody tossed off the bridge in January.

By adamg - 9/9/22 - 9:16 pm
Sunset over the Charles River

Quentin watched the sun go down from the Mass. Ave. Bridge.

Matt Frank watched the moon come up between the supports of the pedestrian bridge at Revere Beach: Read more.

By adamg - 7/23/22 - 10:48 pm
Wakandans on the Mass. Ave. Bridge

Ben Brophy couldn't help but notice the prominent role the Mass. Ave. Bridge plays in the new "Wakanda Forever" trailer.

Nick Quaranto noticed a lost looking Bilbo, um, Martin Freeman, on the bridge: Read more.

By adamg - 2/11/22 - 2:34 pm
Conemen at work

Conemen at work on the Charles. Photo by Caroline Reeves.

Caroline Reeves of the Muddy Water Initiative reports that MassDOT divers (of course MassDOT has divers) today retrieved 131 traffic cones that some bike-lane hater had tossed over the side of the Mass. Ave. Bridge onto the iced-over Charles River last month. Read more.

By adamg - 1/28/22 - 8:17 pm
Man picking up cones on the Charles River

Victor H spotted one of the heroes we need but don't deserve on the Charles River today, trying to collect the cones that somebody keeps tossing onto the ice from the Mass. Ave. Bridge because he really, really hates bike lanes. Read more.

By adamg - 1/24/22 - 9:21 am
Traffic cones now sitting on the Charles River below the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge

Eitan Normand shows us all the traffic cones now sitting on the Charles River below the Mass. Ave. Bridge. The state had put the cones down as part of a pilot to add bike lanes to the bridge.

MassDOT Administrator Jonathan Gulliver is pissed. Read more.

By adamg - 12/6/21 - 10:02 pm
Mattress on the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge

Take the Mass. Ave. Bridge enough and you're bound to see something unusual. For Swimman79 this afternoon, it was a mattress blocking most of the sidewalk on one side.

By adamg - 9/8/21 - 11:28 pm
Large first-responder on Massachusetts Avenue Bridge

The Boston-bound side of the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge was shut this evening after a man jumped off and first responders rushed to the scene, as MC shows us. State troopers were able to rescue him from the water and hand him over to EMTs for transportation to a local hospital.

By adamg - 1/10/19 - 11:44 am
Smoke in the area near the Mass. Ave. bridge

Smoke pic by Benjamin Day.

The Massachusetts Avenue Bridge and the connecting Storrow Drive were shut this morning when a homeless encampment under the Boston side of the bridge caught fire, sending smoke billowing into the air and bringing firefighters racing from both Boston and Cambridge. Read more.

By adamg - 3/24/18 - 11:10 am
Looking for person in the Charles River

The Boston Fire Department reports Boston and Cambridge firefighters converged on the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge around 7:30 a.m. on reports of a person in the water. John Duffill reports they found the person's body.

By adamg - 9/10/17 - 12:44 pm

The bridge which is measured in smoots

European Bunny is a math teacher from England, who is here with a math-teacher friend from China. She reports her friend plans to use smoots in a homework assignment now, based in part on the video above.

By adamg - 5/19/17 - 5:39 pm

This afternoon near the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

UPDATE: Preliminary investigation shows no evidence of foul play, the DA's office reports.

By adamg - 10/12/16 - 10:00 am

Not because he's Zoolander handsome or anything, but because police helpfully shut down the Mass. Ave. Bridge from Boston into Cambridge this morning so he could film a scene there for a movie.

By adamg - 6/29/16 - 7:04 pm
Rainstorm over the Harvard Bridge and the Charles River

Tamas K-L watched the storm over the Charles this afternoon.

By bostonzest - 6/21/16 - 5:11 pm

UPDATE: The man died; another man now faces a manslaughter charge for allegedly pushing him into the river.

Divers from BFD and State Police and firefighters from Boston and Cambridge went into the Charles near the Mass. Ave. bridge shortly after 5 p.m. on a report that somebody jumped or fell into the river. Around 5:27 p.m., firefighters found the man and got him out of the water. He was turned over to EMS for preparation to be transported to a local hospital.

By adamg - 5/7/16 - 10:32 am

WBUR talks with Oliver Smoot, who gave us the measurement, back in town for the centennial celebration of MIT's move across the river.

By adamg - 4/8/16 - 4:38 pm

A 45-year-old Harvard man jumped off the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge shortly before noon. According to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office:

Troopers were able to bring the man from the water into a State Police vessel and transport him to a nearby dock, from where he was taken to Boston Medical Center. Based on the facts and circumstances available thus far, the incident does not appear to be the result of criminal conduct and the man is expected to survive.

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