Officials from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the city of Boston, the town of Brookline and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground on Oct. 10 on Phase 1 of the $30.9 million Muddy River Flood Risk Management and Environmental Restoration project in Boston, Mass.
“ The overall project objectives are to reduce flood risk and enhance aquatic/riparian habitat within Muddy River through improvements to restrictive drainage culverts, dredging accumulated sediment, removing nuisance vegetation, improving fisheries/wildlife habitat, bank stabilization and promoting and enhancing the recreational use of emerald necklace parklands ,” said District Engineer Col. Charles Samaris, commander of the Corps’ New England District.
The project consists of the installation of two, 24-foot by 10-foot pre-cast concrete arch culverts supported by drilled shafts under existing roadways to support the culverts; the construction of concrete headwalls and wing walls also supported by caissons; installation of granite veneer and capstones on wing walls and headwalls; major excavation to daylight sections of the river that were previously in culverts so that they will be open channel sections of river; and significant landscaping of the Phase 1 project site.
The project is in response to severe flooding in past years along and adjacent to the Muddy River as well as several tributary areas, particularly Stony Brook.
To accomplish this construction work will require dewatering sections of Muddy River, removal of existing culverts, construction of new and temporary roadways, modification of existing roadways, the installation and modification of traffic signals and controllers, and the construction of a weir structure upstream of the project area.
Construction on Phase 1 by contractor Charter Environmental of Boston, Mass., is scheduled to start this fall and be completed in approximately 36 months. The Corps will manage the project. The non-Federal sponsors for the project are the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the city of Boston, and the town of Brookline.
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Dredging Today Staff, October 15, 2012