Eitan Normand shows us all the traffic cones now sitting on the Charles River below the Mass. Ave. Bridge. The state had put the cones down as part of a pilot to add bike lanes to the bridge.
MassDOT Administrator Jonathan Gulliver is pissed. Read more.
Take the Mass. Ave. Bridge enough and you're bound to see something unusual. For Swimman79 this afternoon, it was a mattress blocking most of the sidewalk on one side.
The Boston-bound side of the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge was shut this evening after a man jumped off and first responders rushed to the scene, as MC shows us. State troopers were able to rescue him from the water and hand him over to EMTs for transportation to a local hospital.
Smoke pic by Benjamin Day.
The Massachusetts Avenue Bridge and the connecting Storrow Drive were shut this morning when a homeless encampment under the Boston side of the bridge caught fire, sending smoke billowing into the air and bringing firefighters racing from both Boston and Cambridge. Read more.
The Boston Fire Department reports Boston and Cambridge firefighters converged on the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge around 7:30 a.m. on reports of a person in the water. John Duffill reports they found the person's body.
European Bunny is a math teacher from England, who is here with a math-teacher friend from China. She reports her friend plans to use smoots in a homework assignment now, based in part on the video above.
Not because he's Zoolander handsome or anything, but because police helpfully shut down the Mass. Ave. Bridge from Boston into Cambridge this morning so he could film a scene there for a movie.
Oliver Smoot, the man who became a unit of measurement, was back in town today to serve as grand marshal of the 100th anniversary of MIT's moving day - the celebration of the school's moving from the Back Bay to Cambridge.
RoadTrip New England snapped him as he rode past the markers bearing his name on the bridge.
Curt Nickish caught him being measured to make sure he still had an ear (the bridge being, of course, 364.4 smoots long, plus or minus an ear): Read more.
WBUR talks with Oliver Smoot, who gave us the measurement, back in town for the centennial celebration of MIT's move across the river.
A 45-year-old Harvard man jumped off the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge shortly before noon. According to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office:
Troopers were able to bring the man from the water into a State Police vessel and transport him to a nearby dock, from where he was taken to Boston Medical Center. Based on the facts and circumstances available thus far, the incident does not appear to be the result of criminal conduct and the man is expected to survive.
Tim watched some of the first responders searching the Charles around 4:30 p.m. Nick Gillham reported they were looking for somebody who might have jumped. Traffic was backed up in both directions.
Nikki and Noelle noticed the marker pointing the way to MIT today. How much is that in Smoots?
Updated, 12:25 a.m.
For the second day in a row, Boston and Cambridge firefighters and State Police responded to the Massachusetts Avenue bridge on a report of a possible jumper, only to find no evidence on the bridge or in the water that somebody had actually jumped.
Firefighters used thermal imagers and sonar to search the water, after the report of a possible jumper mid-span came in shortly before 11:50 p.m.
The bridge was shut in both directions. Around 12:20 a.m., Boston firefighters began packing up and leaving.
The scene on the bridge. Photo by WhiteHotOven.
The Boston Fire Department responded in force around 6 p.m. when a report came in of a possible jumper from the bridge, but after searching the water, firefighters found nothing and left.
Shortly after 4 p.m., Boston and Cambridge firefighters and Boston and State police began rushing to the Mass. Ave. Bridge on a report of a sailboat tipping over in the wind and dumping somebody in the water. Just as firefighters were about to begin their "tech rescue," however, the person managed to get back in the boat and make his way to shore on the Cambridge side - where he was met by troopers and Cambridge firefighters. He declined medical attention.
David Cole spotted the Wienermobile on the Mass. Ave. bridge around 6 p.m.
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