Taunton's Route 24 and Route 140 interchange rebuild is half done as Route 140 closes five nights

TAUNTON MassDOT's project record lists the $116.5 million construction contract for the Route 24 and Route 140 interchange in Taunton as 50% complete, as crews replace the 1951 bridge that carries Route 24 over Route 140 and rebuild the ramps between the two highways. At the interchange, Route 140 closes in both directions between its Exit 19 and Route 44 from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. starting Sunday, Nov. 1, and every night through Thursday.

The Route 24 southbound exit ramp to Route 140 at Exit 17 and the Route 24 northbound ramp to Route 140 north at Exit 17B close over the same hours on the same five nights, MassDOT's Mass511 listings show. Route 24 also has overnight lane closures in both directions between Exit 16 and Exit 20, with an 11-foot width limit.

The full list of this week's closures, from Swansea to Wareham, is in SC360's roadwork story for the week of Nov. 2.

What MassDOT is building

The work is MassDOT project 605888, interchange improvements at Routes 24 and 140. MassDOT describes it as interchange improvements including replacement of the Route 24 bridge over Route 140, and says "the ramp system will be modified to improve vehicular flow to and from each limited access highway."

MassDOT's project record lists four structures: the Lt. William C. Murphy Bridge, a steel span built in 1951 that carries Route 24 over Route 140 (County Street); two concrete bridges built in 1950 that carry Route 24 over rail lines, one over an MBTA line and one over MBTA and CSX tracks; and a 1959 culvert that carries Route 140 over the Cotley River. MassDOT's project title names the Route 24 bridge over Route 140 and the Route 24 bridge over the MBTA line for replacement, and the prime contractor's project page says both rail bridges are being replaced.

When it is done, the interchange gets a new ramp from Route 24 south to Route 140 north, Route 24 widened to three travel lanes each way plus acceleration and deceleration lanes at the ramps, two-lane entrance ramps from Route 140, a bypass lane on Route 140 south between the Route 24 ramps, and a wider Route 140 with added turning lanes, the Taunton Daily Gazette reported in 2024. The Gazette reported that the two Route 24 rail bridges span tracks for South Coast Rail trains, and the contractor's page lists upgrades to improve access to the Taunton commuter rail station.

Where the work stands

In its status update dated Oct. 28, MassDOT lists crews installing barrier in the Route 140 median, demolishing the second-phase abutments at the Route 24 bridge over Route 140, starting the footing for a new Route 24 rail bridge and relocating a stream near one of the ramps, and says a subcontractor poured a backwall at the bridge over Route 140. A subcontractor is scheduled to begin temporary support for the railroad tracks under that rail bridge.

MassDOT lists normal hours as Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and tells drivers to "expect periodic lane closures and restrictions." The City of Taunton's road construction page says crews work shifts from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., and that the project is "expected to be ongoing until completion, anticipated for June 2027."

A contractor change in 2023

MassDOT advertised the job in August 2020 and gave the contractor notice to proceed on Feb. 17, 2021, at a bid price of $116,498,483.53. Engineering News-Record reported that the contract is part of a $139 million project, that MassDOT received eight bids, that Cardi Corp. of Warwick, R.I., was lowest, that the others ran from $125.8 million to $154.9 million, and that work was scheduled to continue until June 2027.

Cardi stopped work on Oct. 27, 2023, WBZ-TV and Engineering News-Record both reported. MassDOT spokesperson John Goggin told Engineering News-Record the project was about 23% complete at the time, that "there's no substantial quality issues with the work performed to date that would require the work to be redone," and that added costs beyond Cardi's contract would fall to its bonding company.

Manafort Brothers took over the job on Jan. 5, 2024, Goggin told the Taunton Daily Gazette, which reported in June 2024 that he put the new completion date in fall 2027, later than the June 2027 the city's page still lists. Manafort says on its own project page that it was selected by the previous contractor's surety as the prime completion contractor and is doing most of the remaining work with its own crews.

Closures still ahead this week

Besides the five nights on Route 140, MassDOT lists daytime lane closures Monday through Friday on Route 24 southbound between Exit 20 and Exit 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Route 24 northbound between Exit 16 and Exit 20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and on Route 140 northbound between Exit 16 (Route 79) and Exit 20 (Route 24) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Route 24 northbound has intermittent lane closures between Exit 17 and Exit 20 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, and some Route 24 southbound lanes between Exit 22 (I-495) in Raynham and Exit 17 close from 10 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, to 4 a.m. Friday.

Questions about the state highway work go to MassDOT's District 5 Construction Office at 508-884-4281, the number the city lists. MassDOT posts changes to the closures on Mass511 as the week goes on.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.