LMA—Muddy River rehab work, including the “daylighting” of currently buried sections of the river at the Sears Rotary, is slated to begin the week of Jan. 28 after being delayed from the fall, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The work will begin with fencing off areas and removing some trees along Park Drive and the Fenway between the Riverway and Avenue Louis Pasteur. Some temporary roadway lane closures and pedestrian detours may be required.
The most significant part of the work will begin around March 1 and will require major road closures in the busy area. The work will include installing a new, larger culvert for the river beneath Brookline Avenue.
This is the first phase of the Muddy River restoration project and is expected to last three years. It will include installing some new culverts and dredging much of the river in the Riverway parkland, as well as redesigning roadways around intersection of the Riverway, Brookline Avenue and Park Drive. The work will remove the Park Drive “jug-handle” turnaround as well.
The project is intended to reduce flooding that has plagued the silted-up river and clean up pollution and invasive plant species.
A future phase of the project will cover the Jamaica Plain end of the river, which runs between Jamaica Pond and the Charles River. The current phase is budgeted at nearly $31 million and has been contracted by the Corps to Charter Environmental of Boston.
For more information about the project, see the Army Corps website at nae.usace.army.mil/projects/muddyriver.htm.