BWH garage project timeline announced

BRIGHAM CIRCLE—Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) announced a more detailed timeline for its Brigham Green garage project at a community meeting last month.

The Brigham Green project will create an underground parking garage in front of the Peter Bent Brigham building at 15 Francis St. and landscape the area into green space with benches and open space. Work will involve lengthy blasting, but the project is slated to be completed by the end of next year.

The 400-space valet parking garage and landscaping project will require blasting of the Roxbury puddingstone to accommodate the garage. Representatives from BWH and Walsh Brothers Construction have stated that blasting will be kept to 50 percent of the city’s accepted maximum vibration guidelines.

“It will be very controlled, very low-threshold blasting,” a Walsh Brothers Construction spokesperson said at the Feb. 21 meeting, held at One Brigham Circle.

Blasting is expected to happen between August and October. Blasts are planned to occur at the same time daily to minimize confusion and inconvenience around the neighborhood, the spokesperson said.

Pre-blast surveys will be offered to all building owners in a 250-foot radius of the project. Surveys are used to determine whether blasting has been responsible for any damage.

The Walsh Brothers spokesperson also said that project managers will be managing dust and possible rodent problems “very carefully.”

Demolition of a small building and other preparations for the project are planned between April and July of this year. From July to August, the site will be leveled off to prepare for blasting and digging. After blasting, the site will be excavated. Excavation is expected to be over by next April.

During blasting and excavation, neighbors can expect up to five rounds of trucks a day. Details on truck staging and traffic have not yet been announced.

Construction of the garage will follow, with concrete pouring expected between May and December of next year. The project is expected to be completed by spring 2014.

The valet-only garage will be accessed through a private drive from 45 Francis St. Exiting cars would drive back to 45 Francis St. on the street. The current surface parking lot has approximately 25 spaces for BWH employees.

During construction, the sidewalk adjacent to the project will narrow then close before reopening with wider areas and a sheltered bus stop. BWH will sacrifice some of its property to create a sidewalk wide enough for a bus shelter on the east side of Huntington. The bust stop will be temporarily relocated a block away during parts of the construction.

The project was delayed from its original 2008 start date because of the economy.

Information on the project is available from BWH at bit.ly/BWHgarage.

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