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The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) today announced that site preparation work is set to begin this month followed by four phases of painting on the Tobin Memorial Bridge. This work will result in temporary lane closures starting as soon as April 22.

The painting project began in 1992 and has nine phases, four of which are complete. Work on four other phases will occur over the next two years. Two of the phases involve work south of the toll plaza on the "Little Mystic Truss." And the other two will begin in September, continuing north from the "Little Mystic Truss," through the toll plaza, and across the "Big Mystic Truss." The painting work will run through November 2008, and will resume again in the spring of 2009. The work will take place on both the upper and lower decks over a two-year period and will involve temporary and longer-term lane closures.

During the site preparation, which will begin April 22, weather permitting, work will take place weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. through the end of May. Temporary traffic lane closures will be in effect as needed on the upper level southbound after the toll plaza. Site preparation is occurring during off-peak travel times and late nights for safety purposes and to minimize disruption to motorists. Once the sites are prepared, painting work will take place weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and on weekends if necessary. This will result in longer-term lane closures. After the toll plaza, traffic will be restricted to two lanes through the Little Mystic Truss. All three travel lanes will reopen just after the truss down to the CANA tunnel in Charlestown.

"Massport utilizes an environmentally-friendly abrasive cleaning system within a containment area for the protection and safety of our neighbors and the bridge," said Mary Jane O'Meara, Massport's director of the Tobin Bridge. "The on-going painting process is necessary to protect the steel structure from corrosive effects of New England winters and ocean salt."

The containment area is a tightly-sealed, negative-pressure, vacuum space where workers use an abrasive cleaning agent which is recaptured, processed and reused in the encapsulated area. Paint chips are contained from the time they come off the steel to the time they are sealed in containers to ensure public and environmental protection.

Massport's procedures for this painting project include a stringent set of guidelines published by the Steel Structures Painting Council (SSPC) for the safe removal of lead paints from bridge structures.

All preparation and painting work schedules are weather permitting.

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