Posted on November 27, 2023
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District announced today that a ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Nov. 29, 2023, to mark the completion of Phase 2 of the Muddy River Flood Risk Management project in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts.
Phase 2, at a cost of $38 million, is the final phase of work of the Muddy River FRM project. Federal, state and local partners will mark the completion of the project during the ceremony to be held at 11 a.m. at the Duck House on Agassiz Road in Boston.
“This is an important day for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the city of Boston, the town of Brookline and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as we observe completion of Phase 2 of the $38 million Muddy River Flood Risk Management project,” said District Engineer Col. Justin Pabis, commander of the New England District, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts. “This day represents the fruits of a lot of hard work over many years on the part of numerous people and agencies to make this project a reality.”
The 3.5-mile-long Muddy River flows through the heart of Frederick Law Olmsted’s famed “Emerald Necklace,” one of the most carefully crafted park systems in America and the oldest remaining linear urban park system in the United States. The Muddy River FRM project was initiated in response to a storm event in 1996 that resulted in overtopping of the banks of the Muddy River as well as several tributary areas, particularly Stony Brook. The stormwater that was not contained by the Muddy River caused severe flooding and extensive damage to the Green Line Station of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, local hospitals, schools and homes.
Section 522 of Water Resources Development Act of 2000 authorized the project. Due to high unit cost of environmental restoration, federal participation in the project was limited to performing flood risk management components. However, the nature of these components provided complementary environmental benefits such as improved water quality and enhanced aquatic and riparian habitat by dredging accumulated sediment, removing invasive vegetation that was restricting flow, and bank stabilization with emergent and upland plantings.
USACE completed Phase 1 of the project in June of 2016 and formally turned it over to the nonfederal sponsors for maintenance in March of 2019. Phase 1 work included the replacement of two undersized culverts, daylighting two sections of the river, and modification of a bridge and culvert headwall. The Phase 2 construction contract was awarded to Charter Contracting Company in February 2020 and major construction was completed in October of this year.
Phase 2 work consisted of dredging approximately 91,000 cubic yards of sediment to increase the flow capacity of the river. “USACE would like to thank the city of Boston, the town of Brookline, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for being such great partners,” Pabis added. “Without their assistance, this project could not have been so well executed.”
For more information about the Muddy River project, visit the District’s project website at: http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/ProjectsTopics/MuddyRiver.aspx
