More Detours Coming With State Work On Route 6 Bridges

HARWICH – Three Route 6 bridge renovation projects will cause road closures, traffic delays and detours beginning in the next few weeks.

The new detours add to several others local drivers face in Harwich. A large section of Queen Anne Road west of Route 39 is closed due to sewer work, and road construction work on Route 28 from Dennisport to West Harwich is underway.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation will be doing three bridge preservation projects over the next couple of years. The work will include structural and substructural work, according to a description provided by MassDOT. Mobilization is scheduled to begin in mid-October and the project is expected to continue through July 2028, according to the project description. 

Bridges slated for work include the Route 137 bridge, the Route 124 bridge, and the Depot Street bridge. The project cost is estimated at $5,484,000.

 Town Administrator Jay McGail told the select board Monday night that there have been a lot of questions raised about the work as detour signs are already being placed along alternate routes which “has caused a lot of stress here,” he said. The work will cause closures on Route 6, he said, during the night work hours from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays. There will also be daytime work from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., but no closures are expected during that time, McGrail said.

 Town officials were not aware of the project until the detour signs went up, he said.

 “The reason we have limited information is we received limited information,” McGrail told the board. “What we did get for information is because we had to push MassDOT pretty hard because we saw the signs around town. We were just surprised, we were unaware of this project.”

 Two days of efforts by The Chronicle to obtain details on the projects from the MassDOT public affairs staff were unsuccessful. 

 The anticipated closures will require detours that will direct traffic to alternate routes that will affect traffic in Harwich, according to McGrail.

 Police Chief Kevin Considine said he did participate in an online session with MasDOT a month ago in which they reviewed traffic management plans and during which he could make requests for different routes. 

 The detour routes primarily utilize Great Western Road and Route 39. For instance, should work take place on the Depot Street bridge, the east bound traffic detour would begin at the Route 134 exit with vehicles traveling Route 134 to Upper County Road, then to Great Western Road and east to Harwich. Westbound traffic would exit Route 6 at Route 124, Exit 82, go south on Pleasant Lake Avenue, connect to Great Western Road then on to Route 134 in Dennis. 

Similar traffic patterns would be used with work on the Route 124 bridge, with westbound traffic leaving the highway at Exit 82 and turning left onto Pleasant Lake Avenue, then right onto Great Western Road. Eastbound traffic would also leave at Exit 82 and take the right on Pleasant Lake Avenue, left on Route 39 to Route 137, turning left and proceeding to Route 6.

When work is conducted at the Route 137 bridge, traffic heading west would leave Route 6 at Exit 85 and take a left onto Route 137, right onto Route 39 heading west to either the Route 124 access to Route 6, or continue along Great Western Road to the Route 134 connection with Route 6. Eastbound traffic would take Exit 82, turning right at Route 124 then take the left at Route 39, left at Route 137 back to Route 6. 

There will be no closures on the travel routes on top of the bridges along Route 124 and Route 137, according to Considine.

These detours have been used for many years, Considine said, sometimes a couple of times a year when lane dividing stanchions along that section of Route 6 are replaced. Considine added that state road construction projects on the Cape shut down during the summer months.

 “I don’t see a lot of local impacts. The traffic at night will have to be monitored to keep an eye on it,” Considine said. 

 “It will create some issues for us both for transports to the hospital and for mutual aid to the Lower Cape,” said Fire Chief David LeBlanc. “It will definitely be an issue for Lower Cape ambulances transporting to Cape Cod Hospital.

 “We’re getting pretty used to having to adjust to detours and construction impacts,” LeBlanc added. “I don’t see it as being a big impact issue.”