State to Rebuild Bridge at Huron Ave.

A Fresh pond-area bridge which has recently drawn resident complaints about its deterioration and its possible safety hazards will be replaced by 1984, state officials say.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Works has completed about 25 percent of the designs for a new bridge, and last week officialy held a public hearing with about 150 Cambridge residents to hear their suggestions for the $1 million project.

Complaints

Area residents began to complain about the structure two years ago. Leonard J. Russell, city councilor from that area of the city, said that he contacted then-Gov. Edward J. King and the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps of Engineers set up the temporary structure in a weekend, and the Department of Public Works consented to start working on a longer-term solution. Soon after, the state set up a temporary bridge to reduce the traffic flow from the deteriorating bridge.

"The present idea is to build the bridge half at a time in order to maintain traffic flow through the area." William Pizzano, director of public information for the department, said yesterday.

Fall Bids

Pizzano added that the state will begin soliciting construction bids this fall. He noted that if construction gets underway by October, the project will be completed by mid-1984.

The Huron Ave, bridge is one of 600 bridges which were taken over by the department in 1971, because the railroad companies which owned the bridges had insufficient funds to keep them in good shape.