NEWBURY — A flashing sign next to the Upper Green announces the news: The Route 1A bridge is open to traffic.
Newbury was reunited Monday as people crossed the Parker River for the first time since Sept. 27, 2007.
Massachusetts Highway Department Commissioner Luisa Paiewonsky presided over an early-afternoon ribbon-cutting ceremony on the northerly side of the new bridge and officially opened the span to vehicles and pedestrians at 1:30 p.m.
She and most of the approximately 100 people in attendance then took a walk to the south side of bridge.
Vehicular traffic had to wait more than a few minutes until orange barrels were removed and a canopy that had been set up for the ceremony was taken down.
Cars and trucks on the north side of the bridge were backed up on Route 1A to the Lower Green as they waited for the obstacles to their passage to be removed. There were only a handful of vehicles waiting on the south side.
Earlier in the day, Newbury police Chief Michael Reilly voiced gratitude and appreciation to his Rowley counterpart, Kevin Barry, and Rowley fire Chief James Broderick for their work in handling public safety concerns in the section of Newbury that had been cut off from the rest of town by the closing of the bridge.
"This is a glorious day for the town of Newbury, the town of Rowley and my colleagues at MassHighway," Paiewonsky said.
The bridge project is still about four months away from being completed as smaller details are finished, but it re-opened 21 months ahead of the original schedule and nine months ahead of an accelerated timetable of two years.
Paiewonsky said the Route 1A project had been a model of cooperation among the highway department, the contractor and the towns.
"This is the bridge I talk about more than any other when I travel around the state," she said. "This is an example of what we can do when we put our minds to it."
She cited regional MassHighway officials Patricia Leavenworth and Paul Stedman, resident engineer David Conroy and the general contractor, S&R Corp. of Lowell, for keeping the project moving forward.
State Sen. Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican whose district includes Newbury and Rowley, said the speed of the reopening "proves that government can get some things right."
State Rep. Harriett Stanley of West Newbury, praised the cooperation from the two towns, which are also in her district.
Stanley presented a bouquet of flowers — which she noted were purchased at nearby Tendercrop Farm — to High Road resident Kate Higgins, who Stanley said was "a model neighbor" of the project and the people working on it.
Newbury Selectman Joseph Story reiterated police Chief Reilly's expression of gratitude to Rowley.
Rowley Selectman Stuart Dalzell voiced his gratitude to several officials, especially Stanley, who he said has been working to get the bridge repaired for 10 years.
The replacement of the Parker River bridge was initially projected to take four years, but original plans called for one lane of traffic to be kept open at all times.
In spring 2007, MassHighway inspectors said they noticed significant deterioration in the support beams of the structure that would be needed to keep one lane of traffic flowing on one side of the bridge or the other. Traffic was reduced to a single lane in the center of the span, regulated by a light, on May 2 of that year.
The project was further complicated by a condition in the Coast Guard permit, which prohibited any work in the river itself between Feb. 1 and June 30. The ban was intended to protect the habitat of several species of fish.
Victor Tine may be contacted at vtine@gloucestertimes.com.
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