BOSTON -- After months of work, hundreds of people are expected to attend the formal dedication of the Leonard P. Zakim-Bunker Hill bridge Friday in Boston, joined by none other than 'The Boss,' singer Bruce Springsteen, who's expected to make a special tribute.

Video

Watch Gail Huff's Report Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge Aerials

NewsCenter 5's Ed Harding reported that the ceremony is scheduled to start about 12:15 p.m. to mark the opening of the northbound lanes of the bridge. Performing for the ceremony will be the 250-member Children's Bridge Festival Chorus, singing a song composed especially for the bridge dedication.

The chorus will then join the Zakim family to carry out a special Jewish ritual of placing stones gathered in the memory of lost loved ones. The stones were gathered from the Bunker Hill battleground and will be poured into the bridge's foundation.

Finally, a plaque will be unveiled in memory of Zakim, who passed away in 1999 at the age of 46 after a long bout with cancer. Zakim headed the Anti-Defamation League of New England and fought tirelessly to end prejudice and build symbolic bridges between people of different races and cultures.

Zakim left behind three children and his widow said she couldn't think of a better way to remember him and to teach the children of the future about his legacy than to have a bridge named in his honor.

NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that there will be additional events at the Bunker Hill monument in Charlestown, Mass., to mark the bridge dedication. There will be an interfaith prayer service at St. Francis DeSales church at 9 a.m., followed by a Youth Congress at the Paul Revere Park in Charlestown, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. There will be more than 800 high school students meeting there who will bring the stones gathered at the monument to the bridge dedication.

The inverted, Y-shaped towers of the bridge invoke the shape of the Bunker Hill monument, which is a testament to the personal heroism of Revolutionary War patriots did.

"It's really a tribute to two institutions: Lenny Zakim, who fought for peace and bringing communities together, and Bunker Hill, where people fought side by side," said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

At a Museum of Science celebration Thursday night there was a celebration to mark the bridge dedication. Zakim's widow, Joyce, said her late husband would be greatly honored by the tribute.

"He would appreciate being part of the symbol of freedom and liberty. Part of the Bunker Hill message, what has been brought to this country and the freedom they brought to us, and being able to speak up, passing on that message -- speaking up and speaking out to make the world a more just, more respectful place," she said.