The City of Boston continues to take steps toward rebuilding a bridge and addiction treatment center on Long Island, as mental health and drug crises in the city remain dominant issues facing the Wu administration.
On Thursday, Mayor Michelle Wu announced that the Public Works Department is now looking for outside firms to oversee construction and provide assistance with contract services on the bridge project.
The goal is to have the project manager in place when the final approvals are okayed, so that bridge construction can begin as soon as possible.
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“Families around the city and region deserve access to a comprehensive network of care as so many experience substance use and mental health challenges,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a news release. “I’m excited to bring on a project management team to begin taking action in rebuilding a public health campus and coordinate with provider partners to bring these critical services online as quickly as possible.”
Applications for project management firms are due on Oct. 20, with the city saying that it will have a firm selected by the year's end.
“I want to thank Mayor Wu for prioritizing the needs of our communities and moving this project forward,” Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission said in the release. “In the past there was a lot of innovative work happening on the Long Island campus. This new campus will be a hub for further innovation and create a supportive and stable environment for long-term recovery for generations of people.”
The city said Thursday that it still has two outstanding approvals to get the bridge project going.
The approvals still needed are a federal consistency review by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, along with a United States Coast Guard bridge permit.
Wu has previously said that the city already set aside $38 million to rehabilitate the existing buildings on the island, and an additional $81 million for rebuilding the bridge.
The Long Island Bridge was shut down in 2014 by former Mayor Marty Walsh, after concerns were raised by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation about the infrastructure's condition.
Wu hopes to have the 3,300-foot bridge reopened within four years.
