As of this week, the city owns about a quarter mile of concrete Jersey barriers.
Not that it needs more obstacles put in its way, but unique circumstances, starting with the new free-flow of traffic under Government Center and from the Braga Bridge, made a contractor’s largesse possible.
SPS New England Inc. donated about 150 8-foot concrete barriers after crews took them down Tuesday and Wednesday nights along Interstate 195, said Department of Public Works Director Kenneth Pacheco and SPS project manager Charlie Guido.
“SPS offered the barriers to us. They said the state specifications changed to a different barrier, so these barriers are obsolete,” Pacheco said.
By that it means barriers of this design can no longer be used on state highway projects, which SPS in Salisbury specializes in.
The city can use them, Pacheco said.
For instance, he said, the Housing Authority needed the sloped cement structures in an area near Maple Gardens [...]

Original post by Michael Holtzman