Reported by us | New Bedford

New Bedford's I-195 rebuild moves to its next phase this winter, nine months early, with the finish still set for 2030

MassDOT's own records show phase 3 moving from fall 2027 to this winter and the Exit 26 east ramp closing in December, while the agency still expects to finish in 2030.

By the SC360 Investigations Desk | Published Nov. 1, 2026 | Last verified Nov. 1, 2026, 8:52 a.m. ET

NEW BEDFORD Traffic on I-195 in New Bedford is due to move onto the new westbound bridge at the Route 18 interchange this winter, about nine months sooner than MassDOT had planned, and the shift brings the rebuild's longest closure yet for drivers headed downtown. The ramp from I-195 east to Route 18 south, Exit 26, closes in December and stays closed until spring 2029, MassDOT says.

Valerie Kilduff, MassDOT's design-build project manager, told the City Council's Appointments and Briefings Committee on Oct. 20 that phase 3 will begin in winter 2026-27, about nine months early, The Standard-Times reported. WBSM also reported that the job is running about nine months ahead of schedule. MassDOT's own records show the change: as recently as April, its About page for the project listed phase 3 for fall 2027, and the agency now places it this winter.

MassDOT still expects the project to be complete in 2030, at an estimated cost of about $400 million, John Goggin of MassDOT Communications said Oct. 30.

Why it is running early

Kilduff gave the credit for the quicker pace to the project team's coordination and the cooperation of drivers and local partners, according to The Standard-Times. She said work has advanced on the new I-195 westbound viaduct, the Cedar Grove retaining wall and the new Cedar Grove ramp, the new westbound Exit 26 ramp to Route 18 south, the Route 18 northbound ramp to I-195 west, and drainage and utility work above and below ground.

What it means for your commute

• Downtown from I-195 east: Exit 26 to Route 18 south closes in December and is due to reopen in spring 2029, with a signed detour, MassDOT says. Its posted detour for that ramp runs east to Exit 31B at North Street, back onto I-195 west and off at Exit 26, the westbound ramp to Route 18 south.
• Downtown from I-195 west: That westbound ramp, Ramp C, has been closed since Sept. 8, 2025, and MassDOT lists it as closed until summer 2027. Its posted detour runs west to the Route 140 interchange at Exit 24A, back onto I-195 east from Exit 2A toward Cape Cod and off at Exit 26, the eastbound ramp that closes in December.
• Both at once: By MassDOT's own dates, both Exit 26 ramps to Route 18 south will be closed from December until Ramp C reopens, and each posted detour ends at the other closed ramp. MassDOT said Oct. 30 that the existing long-term closures stay in place during phase 3 and that the Exit 26 east ramp closes in phase 4, after the traffic shifts; its meeting notice says that closure begins in December. MassDOT's look-ahead says detours are in place for trucks and large vehicles on I-195 and that personal vehicles can continue to use local roads during ramp closures.
• Route 18 north to I-195 west: Ramp D has been closed since Sept. 8, 2025, and is due back in summer 2027. The detour runs onto I-195 east to Exit 31B and back west.
• Weld Street: The Route 18 southbound ramp to Weld Street also closes during phase 4, MassDOT says.
• Through traffic: MassDOT keeps two lanes open in each direction on I-195 in every phase, and it tells drivers they must slow down through the work zone.
• Nights: MassDOT's Oct. 18 to Nov. 1 look-ahead listed overnight closures, 7:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. as needed, on Route 18, County and Purchase streets and several ramps. MassDOT issues a new look-ahead every two weeks and posts changes on Mass511.

South Coast 360 laid out the December closure in its Oct. 30 story and the current detours and night closures in its Oct. 18 story.

What is being built

The job replaces the elevated I-195 structure from County Street to just past the Route 18 interchange, along with its ramp bridges and deficient piers and abutments. MassDOT's design, first shown in 2019, replaces the 1,350-foot, 15-span viaduct with one eight-span steel girder bridge over the parking lots and skate park, two bridges over Route 18 north and south, and highway embankment held by walls in place of the remaining five spans.

In contract terms, the work replaces bridge N-06-020, which carries I-195 east and west and Ramps C and F over Route 18, County Street, State Street, the Mass Coastal Railroad, Purchase Street and Weld Street. Three bridges to the east, numbered N-06-021, N-06-022 and F-01-008, which carry I-195 over North Front Street, Belleville Avenue and the Acushnet River, get new parapets.

The 2019 design rebuilds Ramps C and F on embankment with gentler curves, widens the weaving area between Ramps C and D, adds a right-hand lane on I-195 west from Ramp D to the Cedar Grove Street on-ramp and lengthens the deceleration lane approaching Ramp F to 600 feet. Route 18 both ways and County, State, Purchase, Cedar Grove, Penniman, North Front and Kenyon streets and Belleville Avenue are milled and paved or rebuilt where the work touches them, according to MassDOT's board summary.

The contract also pays for a new stormwater system that takes the highway's runoff out of the city's combined sewer overflow system, new highway lighting, a noise barrier along I-195 west at Cedar Grove Street, rebuilt parking lots and skate park under the highway, an accessible plaza, a landscaped park and a shared use path.

Who is building it and what it costs

MassDOT bought the job as a design-build contract, so one team designs and builds it. Thirteen firms answered its March 2024 call for interest and three teams were shortlisted. When price proposals were opened Jan. 23, 2025, The Middlesex Corp. and TranSystems had the lowest price at $289,221,760, and a Barletta and O&G joint venture with VHB bid $300,700,000. MassDOT ranks design-build teams by dividing price by a technical score, and the joint venture of DW White and SPS New England, with designer HNTB, won at $295,225,000 with the top score, 85.13.

That price was 93.57% of MassDOT's own estimate of $315.5 million. MassDOT staff asked the board on Feb. 26, 2025, to award contract 127763 for that amount, inside a total program budget of $351,625,621 that adds $29.5 million in contingencies, $14.8 million for construction engineering, $6.3 million for police details, $4.8 million for equipment rental, $1 million for railroad flaggers and $5,600 for trainees. The contract requires 14% of both the design and the construction work to go to disadvantaged business enterprises.

MassDOT lists the money as federal Highway Infrastructure Program bridge funds plus a state share, and $120 million in federal money was committed to the project in federal fiscal 2024, the region's list of obligated projects shows. The region's 2024 to 2029 transportation program carried the project at $432.7 million. In December 2025, MassDOT proposed cutting $73 million from it because less money was needed to finish than first expected, the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District said, and the program as amended through July 2026 lists the project's total federal participating cost at $378,321,384.

Why MassDOT took it on

MassDOT's 2019 presentation described deteriorated steel, spalling concrete and exposed reinforcing throughout the interchange, said Ramp F and sections of the bridge had been classified as functionally obsolete, and said Ramp C and the elevated I-195 from Mount Pleasant Street to Route 18 were in poor condition. Its 2025 board summary calls the bridges structurally deficient.

The same presentation called I-195 west between the Route 18 on-ramp and the Route 18 off-ramp a high crash location because of its limited weaving area. It counted 41 crashes in the project area from 2012 to 2014, mostly because of narrow lanes on the exit ramps, said the crash rate was elevated compared with nearby sections of I-195, and noted that heavy rain floods Route 18 near the interchange.

Buses, walkers and neighbors

The Southeastern Regional Transit Authority says its service will be detoured in various locations as the project develops, and it posts its bus detour notices on its website.

People on foot face closures as well, since MassDOT's look-ahead for Oct. 18 to Nov. 1 listed State Street between Cedar Grove and Penniman streets as closed to drivers and pedestrians around the clock, and County and Purchase streets as closing to both overnight as needed. When the work is done, a shared use path will run under the highway between Coggeshall Street and Weld Street with a connection to Purchase Street.

Homes, businesses and the Hayden-McFadden School sit next to the structure. MassDOT's plan keeps all driveways open, provides parking on the street and at the school during construction and says the ramps to and from Cedar Grove Street and Penniman Street "will be maintained throughout construction," though its Oct. 18 look-ahead listed the Cedar Grove Street on-ramp and the Penniman Street exit for some daytime or overnight closures. Crews may work nights and weekends as needed to shorten construction; otherwise the hours are 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The contract requires noise and dust controls for abutters.

What is left

Phase 3 has three steps, Kilduff told councilors, as The Standard-Times reported: westbound traffic moves onto the new viaduct, the median is milled and paved for a crossover, and eastbound traffic moves onto the new westbound structure too. That frees the old eastbound viaduct for phase 4, when crews demolish it and the eastbound ramp, build their replacements and finish the stormwater basins, the parking lot and the skate park. MassDOT says phase 4 runs through summer 2029.

The plan MassDOT posted earlier ends with a fifth phase, set then for summer 2029 to spring 2030, that moves both directions onto their final lanes, builds the median and finishes paving, signs, pavement markings and landscaping.

The contract counts its deadlines from the notice to proceed: full beneficial use within 1,979 days, substantial completion within 2,050 days and field completion within 2,094 days. From April 2025, that puts full beneficial use in September 2030 and substantial completion in November or December 2030. MassDOT's board summary listed anticipated construction as March 2025 to December 2030.

How the road got here

The interchange was built in 1965, MassDOT says, and I-195 through New Bedford is a designated state evacuation route. WBSM reported that the highway from Westport to the New Bedford and Fairhaven line was built from 1963 to 1965. MassDOT ran a public design process in 2018 and 2019, paused it in 2019 to refine the design and resumed it in 2023, and MassDOT and the Federal Highway Administration approved the project's environmental review, a categorical exclusion, on March 4, 2024.

Other I-195 work in the region

The region's 2026 to 2030 transportation program also lists resurfacing on I-195 in Westport and Dartmouth (project 612064) and in Mattapoisett, Marion and Wareham (project 612061) for federal fiscal 2026. Just over the state line, Rhode Island plans an overnight I-195 closure at the Potter Street bridge in East Providence on Nov. 6.

How to weigh in

MassDOT's live virtual public information meeting on phases 3 and 4 is Thursday, Nov. 5, at 6 p.m. on Zoom. Registration is through MassDOT's meeting notice, and MassDOT says it will review the comments submitted in response to the meeting.

Questions about the work go to the project hotline at 508-441-4532 or to i195route18newbedford@dot.state.ma.us, and MassDOT posts traffic changes on Mass511.

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

Notes

Every project fact comes from MassDOT's own records: its Feb. 26, 2025 board summary on contract 127763, its 2019, 2023 and 2025 public meeting presentations, its phase 1 fact sheet, its project, About, look-ahead and detour pages, its notice for the Nov. 5 meeting and a statement from MassDOT Communications on Oct. 30. Mass.gov pages that would not load for us were read in Internet Archive copies, dated in the sources list. Money figures also come from the region's transportation program and the planning district's Dec. 18, 2025 release, and the bus note from SRTA's own detours page. The Standard-Times is credited for what MassDOT's project manager told the City Council committee Oct. 20, and WBSM for its nine months report and the highway's 1963 to 1965 build. The contract dates in November or December 2030 are our own count of the contract's days from an April 2025 notice to proceed. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar: Nov. 5 is a Thursday, Oct. 20 a Tuesday and Jan. 23, 2025, a Thursday. Not heard yet: MassDOT, on the date in December the Exit 26 east ramp closes, the route drivers should use while both Exit 26 ramps are closed and any change orders; its answer will be added here.

Corrections

No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.

Sources (16)

1. The Standard-Times, "New Bedford I-195 project hits major milestone 9 months early" (Frank Mulligan, as published on Yahoo News)Credited for what only it reported: MassDOT design-build project manager Valerie Kilduff's statements to the City Council's Appointments and Briefings Committee on Oct. 20 (phase 3 in winter 2026-27, about nine months early; the reasons for the quicker pace; the three steps of phase 3; the work completed). Published Oct. 27, 2026. Read Nov. 1, 2026.
2. WBSM, "MassDOT Dropping Major Route 18 Exit Ramp Closure on New Bedford Drivers Ahead of Schedule"Credited for its report that the project is running about nine months ahead of schedule and for the 1963 to 1965 construction of I-195 from Westport to the New Bedford and Fairhaven line. Published Oct. 30, 2026. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
3. MassDOT Communications, John Goggin, statement to South Coast 360 NewsPhase 3 in winter 2026, the long-term ramp closures staying in place and no added long-term closures in phase 3, phase 4 through summer 2029, the Exit 26 east ramp closed through spring 2029, the Weld Street ramp closing in phase 4, completion in 2030 at about $400 million. Received Oct. 30, 2026, 5:11 p.m.
4. MassDOT Highway Division, public hearing notice for the Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, virtual public information meetingRamp from I-195 east to Route 18 south (Exit 26) closed from December 2026 through spring 2029 with a signed detour; the meeting's purpose and comment language. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
5. MassDOT, "About the Route I-195 to Route 18 interchange rehabilitation project"The scope, the five phases as planned (phase 3 fall 2027, phase 4 winter 2027 to summer 2029, phase 5 summer 2029 to spring 2030), the long-term ramp closure dates as then planned, two lanes each way, driveways, parking, the Cedar Grove and Penniman ramps, work hours, the 2018 to 2019 design process and the 2023 restart. Read Nov. 1, 2026, in the copy the Internet Archive saved April 13, 2026.
6. MassDOT, "Route I-195 to Route 18 interchange rehabilitation in New Bedford"Project goals, construction began in spring 2025, hotline and email. Read Nov. 1, 2026, in the copy the Internet Archive saved Sept. 30, 2026.
7. MassDOT, "Traffic and construction updates," construction look-ahead for Oct. 18 to Nov. 1, 2026Ramps C and D closed Sept. 8, 2025, until summer 2027; overnight and daytime street, Route 18 and ramp closures, including State Street closed to drivers and pedestrians 24/7. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
8. MassDOT, "Traffic detours, Route I-195 to Route 18 interchange rehabilitation in New Bedford"Posted detours for Ramp C, Ramp D and Ramp F closures. Read Oct. 31, 2026, in the copy the Internet Archive saved Oct. 5, 2026.
9. MassDOT Highway Division, Contract No. 127763 presentation and staff summary for the MassDOT Board of Directors, Feb. 26, 2025Bridges N-06-020, N-06-021, N-06-022 and F-01-008; scope; the design-build procurement, three proposals, prices and technical scores; 93.57% of the office estimate; the $351,625,621 program budget; three contract milestones in days from notice to proceed; the DBE goal and firms; federal HIP bridge and state funding; the 2024 to 2029 TIP cost of $432.7 million; the March 4, 2024 categorical exclusion; anticipated construction March 2025 to December 2030. Read Nov. 1, 2026, in the copy the Internet Archive saved Nov. 18, 2025.
10. MassDOT, I-195/Route 18 Interchange Rehabilitation Project public information meeting presentation, Jan. 31, 2019The $120 million budget estimate, 1965 construction, evacuation route, structural conditions, the high crash location and 41 crashes from 2012 to 2014, the 1,350-foot 15-span viaduct and its replacement, ramp and merge lane changes. Read Nov. 1, 2026, in the copy the Internet Archive saved Sept. 1, 2025.
11. MassDOT, public information meeting presentation, Hayden-McFadden School, Oct. 25, 2023Project file 606527, eight-span bridge, the timeline then planned. Read Nov. 1, 2026, in the copy the Internet Archive saved Sept. 1, 2025.
12. MassDOT, Phase 2 Traffic Shifts public information meeting presentation, Aug. 27, 2025Notice to proceed in April 2025, the project team, phases 1 and 2. The story photo is from this presentation. Read Nov. 1, 2026, in the copy the Internet Archive saved July 12, 2026.
13. MassDOT, I-195/Route 18 interchange rehabilitation fact sheet, phase 1Noise wall along Cedar Grove Street, five phases, completion anticipated for 2030. Read Nov. 1, 2026, in the copy the Internet Archive saved April 13, 2026.
14. Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District, release on proposed FFY2026-2030 TIP Amendment 3MassDOT's proposed $73 million cost decrease for project 606527 "due to less funds needed to complete the project than originally anticipated." Dated Dec. 18, 2025. Read Nov. 1, 2026.
15. Southeastern Massachusetts Metropolitan Planning Organization, FFY2026-2030 Transportation Improvement Program, as amended through July 14, 2026Project 606527 with an adjusted total federal participating cost of $378,321,384 (HIP-BR); the FFY2024 list of obligated projects ($120 million federal); I-195 resurfacing projects 612061 and 612064 in FFY2026. Read Nov. 1, 2026.
16. Southeastern Regional Transit Authority, DetoursSRTA's note that its service will be detoured in various locations as the I-195/Route 18 project develops, and its daily detour notices. Read Nov. 1, 2026.

This story on the full site