Christina Street Rail Bridge

Newton is working with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Town of Needham, and abutters to design and construct a bridge over the Charles River and a new shared use path in Needham that will connect with the Blue Heron Trail in Needham. The new bridge will connect to a shared use path network to be constructed as part of the Northland and Northland Charlemont developments, extending to the Upper Falls Greenway.

October 5, 2023 update: The City has received a $1.25 million federal earmark through 2022 Economic Development legislation to advance this project. In September 2023, the City submitted a project proposal to MassDOT to help qualify the project for federal and state funding for construction.  The City is working with DCR on project management. Subject to agreements with DCR, the City will initiate a procurement process for design services. A public process is anticipated in the coming months.

Christina Street Rail Bridge Feasibility Study and Conceptual Design

In 2021, the City released the Christina Street Rail Bridge Shared Use Path Feasibility Report and concept level plans. Completion of this report offers real hope that we will be able to address the community's passion for creating a bicycle and pedestrian path that will not only provide recreational access to the DCR land in Needham, but also serve as a green commuter connection for folks working in Newton and Needham. You can find the full feasibility report below.

Status: Project complete. Feasibility Report available here, and an accessible Word version is available below.

Project Introduction 

Please watch this brief introductory video to the project. 

Final Feasibility Study Report and Preferred Scenario

Christina Street Rail Bridge Feasibility Study - Final Report (revised 7/7/21)

WORD VERSION - Christina Street Bridge Feasibility Study - June 2021 (Rev 7-7-21) - note this version does not include the appendices as they were developed in alternate programs that are not accessible to screen readers. 

Christina Street Bridge Preferred Concept Plans - June 2021

The preferred design option, for which the above concept plans were developed, chosen by the City of Newton and Town of Needham is for a new pre-fab truss bridge to be installed where the current dilapidated bridge is. This option was chosen for the numerous benefits it offers bridge users and boaters in the Charles River as well as the low life-cycle maintenance costs. The total cost for this project (including all final design, construction management, demolition/construction, etc.) is estimated to be $2,510,000. A breakdown of the project costs can be seen in Section 9.3 of the report linked above. While this is more expensive than the rehabilitation option, a rehabilitated bridge will have higher long-term maintenance costs and will not alleviate the problems associated with having 28 pilings in the Charles River. A new truss bridge will have very low long-term maintenance costs and span the river without any pilings or obstructions. So, if sufficient funding becomes available, we prefer to pursue a new single-span truss bridge.

The City is actively pursuing funding opportunities for final design and construction of a new bridge at this location and has submitted earmark requests to both Representative Auchincloss’s office and Senator Warren’s office. The City recently learned that $1.6 million based on our earmark was approved by the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and that that earmark request will be moving onto the full House for a vote. We hope to hear soon about the $2.5 million dollar request we recently submitted to Senator Warren’s office.

Since access from Newton would be across Barry Price Center land, the City is working closely with the Price Center to ensure that that the final design will meet the needs of their clientele. 

We are so grateful for all the input we received from the community on this project and look forward to continuing to engage with you and receive feedback as we move into the next stages of the project.

Community Engagement Survey 

The community engagement survey was open for a total of three weeks and had 262 responses! Staff are working to review responses and our contractor is working to pull together their initial report on the potential bridge scenarios. 

Project Documents

Christina Bridge