I-Team: Report Finds Millions Of Taxpayer Dollars Wasted On Gloucester Bridge

GLOUCESTER (CBS) -- The Massachusetts Department of Transportation caused years of unnecessary delays and wasted $2.6 million of taxpayer money on a North Shore bridge project along Route 128.

That was the conclusion of a report by State Auditor Suzanne Bump, who took a closer look at the A. Piatt Andrew Bridge construction in Gloucester.

Bump discovered MassDOT did not do an inspection on the bridge prior to beginning work, instead relying on some outdated assessments of the structure's integrity.

During construction, it became clear the bridge needed significant repairs instead of just rehabilitation work. The ensuing change orders for extra work cost taxpayers more than if the repairs would have been competitively bid out before construction began, the report stated.

"That was the fatal error," Bump told WBZ-TV, referring to the failure to do a new inspection. "In an attempt to keep costs down at the outset, the state ended up being penny wise and pound foolish."

The bridge project is now slated for completion in April 2016. It was originally supposed to be finished in 2011.

State lawmakers Bruce Tarr and Ann-Margaret Ferrante requested the audit when the delays kept piling up.

"We weren't getting answers that made sense and we wanted to confirm that taxpayer money was being spent properly and people weren't being inconvenienced unnecessarily," Tarr told WBZ-TV.

Add it to the list of projects that have stretched well beyond deadline. In September, the I-Team found example after example of projects running behind schedule across Massachusetts. The percentage of on-time projects also lagged behind other states.

Tarr also said the Gloucester project's impact has had an unknown financial impact on the region's tourism, especially in the summer months.

At nearby Lobsta Land restaurant, server Zoe Murray has had a front-row seat to the gridlock since the project began two governors ago. She has noticed the disruption take a bite out of the lunchtime business rush.

"You can always see lines of cars straight outside the restaurant," Murray said. "Customers won't come over the bridge because traffic gets backed up."

MassDOT spokesman Michael Verseckes said it was never the state's intention to perform complete bridge rehabilitation. However, as work progressed, it became clear the bridge needed reconstructive surgery instead of just a Band-Aid.

"While some of those additional deficiencies would have been found had a full inspection been performed prior to the start of design, many would only have been identified during construction, particularly when cleaning the bridge prior to painting it," Verseckes said.

At any rate, MassDOT said it is now current practice to have an inspection performed prior to starting design on all repair and preservation contracts.

Good news for drivers down the road, but little comfort to frustrated drivers in the Gloucester area.

"It absolutely seems like common sense, but it was missing from this project and it's inexplicable why," Tarr said.

Ryan Kath can be reached at rkath@cbs.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or connect on Facebook.