Middlesex Turnpike Bridge

The Middlesex Turnpike Bridge carries the Middlesex Turnpike over the Shawsheen River in the southern corner of Billerica, where the river comes in from Bedford. The crossing dates from the building of the turnpike. The Middlesex Turnpike Corporation was chartered in June 1805, and in 1806 its route was changed "from a point in Bedford, crossing Nutting's Pond," in a straight line through the town, so the road met the Shawsheen just inside the Bedford line. The turnpike was open by about 1810. The crossing lies at the town line, and the state bridge inventory lists the present structure under Bedford, as bridge B-04-006.

In the twentieth century the bridge was one of the town's plank bridges. In 1921 the highway surveyor reported that "the River Street, Mayberry's, Aqueduct and Turnpike bridges are not in good condition at the present time," and the "Turnpike Bridge" was among those "repaired or replanked during 1922." A special town meeting on Aug. 21, 1922 was asked to "remove the obstructions from the channel of the Shawsheen River between the Middlesex Turnpike bridge and the Billerica and Bedford Railroad bridge," but voted to take no action. In 1927 the highway report again records "Middlesex Turnpike Bridge replanked."

The planked bridge was later replaced by a culvert, which the state inventory dates to 1975. The road at the river flooded in high water, and the state described the crossing as structurally deficient and overtopped "during flood events." In the third phase of the Middlesex Turnpike improvements, a state project from Crosby Drive and Plank Street in Bedford to Manning Road in Billerica, begun by Barletta Heavy Division in April 2018, the roadway was widened at the Shawsheen River and its profile raised over new precast concrete culverts. The expense of the river crossing was one reason the third phase cost close to $35 million; the work was nearing completion in 2023.