Contraflow pilot program for N Washington bridge

Starting Monday, the North Washington St bridge will switch to two northbound lanes during evening rush hour in contraflow pilot program.

The periodic construction look-ahead notice for January 8 – January 21 included the following:

Contraflow Pilot

• Beginning, Monday, January 9 2023, MassDOT will be implementing a pilot contraflow traffic setup on the temporary bridge during evening peak traffic (3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.), Monday through Friday for 6 months.
• The temporary bridge’s current roadway set up provides 1 northbound lane and 2 southbound lanes. As part of the contra-flow pilot during evening peak traffic there will be 2 northbound lanes and 1 southbound lane.
• Traffic monitoring will be in place to determine if the contraflow traffic setup is effective in improving traffic flow.
• The contraflow will not be in place during holidays or inclement weather.
• Police details, lane markings, temporary barriers, traffic cones, signage, and other tools will be used to control traffic during set up and operation of the contraflow.

The conditions for pedestrians using the bridge were recently featured on this site. It's unclear whether this change is an attempt to improve those conditions. The only measurement mentioned in the announcement is the impact on traffic flow: