Why Fall River’s City Hall Is on Top of Interstate 195

Fall River's City Hall, or Government Center as it is known, is in a very unusual location: literally on top of Interstate 195. It was the first public building built over a federal interstate highway.

Just as urban renewal and the construction of the interstate highway system sliced and diced New Bedford in the 1960s, uprooting entire neighborhoods and leveling hundreds of buildings, Fall River suffered the same fate. It was progress, after all.

Fall River's historic 19th-century city hall was in the way and had to be demolished to make room for the new highway. The new Government Center opened in 1976, straddling Interstate 195. The building is further east of the original city hall

The new Government Center, constructed with reinforced concrete and glass, finally opened after years of delays and quality control problems. It underwent a multi-million dollar exterior renovation in 2008.

The location of the new Government Center was chosen because it is said to be at the historic "crossroads" of the city.

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The original city hall, built over the Quequechan River, suffered two fires.

The river was diverted to an underground culvert when the city hall was demolished and I-195 was constructed. Public officials have talked for years about unearthing the Quequechan.

In March 1999, several concrete slabs from the ceiling of the highway tunnel beneath Government Center became loose and fell on traffic. Six vehicles crashed as a result, and while several people were injured, there were no fatalities.

As a result of the incident, the federal government ordered the removal of all concrete slabs from the tunnel's ceiling.

The concrete slabs protected the underside of the Government Center from fire in the event of an incident in the tunnel. Trucks carrying hazardous materials were re-routed around the tunnel as a safety precaution.

Once replacement panels were installed, the tunnel reopened to truck traffic in 2008.