Projects / Berkley, Lakeville and Freetown, MA
South Coast Rail Early Action Four Bridges
Erection of the steel and precast for four new railroad bridges on the New Bedford Main Line, built under a live freight railroad ahead of the South Coast Rail program.
- Owner
- MassDOT / MBTA
- Location
- Berkley, Lakeville and Freetown, MA
- General contractor
- J.F. White Contracting
- Our role
- Erection Only
- Years
- 2019-2020
Before the main South Coast Rail packages were awarded, MassDOT replaced four railroad bridges on the New Bedford Main Line so the freight line could later carry commuter trains: Cotley River North and South in Berkley, Cedar Swamp River in Lakeville and Fall Brook in Freetown. J.F. White Contracting was the general contractor and Atlantic Bridge & Engineering was the steel and precast erector. Each Cotley River bridge carries thirteen welded, hot-dip galvanized plate girders with steel deck plate, side plates and walkway brackets; at Cedar Swamp River and Fall Brook, ABE crews also set the precast units.
In all, ABE erected about 150 tons of galvanized bridge steel. The Cotley bridges were built in two phases under the active track, with the first seven girder lines in place to meet the railroad's October 2019 milestone, and ABE furnished and installed 353 feet of three-line safety rail. The bridges were complete in the fall of 2020, and South Coast Rail service through them began in March 2025.