12/21/18 – Phase II Project Update
Posted on: December 24, 2018 - 8:39am
12/21/18 – Phase II Project Update:
As 2018 winds down, the state Rail Trail contractor ET&L corrected some small items and is finishing a punch list, e.g., addressing the pavement scouring around the “stop ahead” markings, in preparation for turning the trail over to the City’s Parks Department in the new year 2019. The contractor also conducted the temporary shoreline stabilization work in late December behind the Wastewater Treatment Facility. A stone haul road was laid down over geotextile fabric along the riverfront corridor for heavy equipment access, and the scoured areas were reinforced with “gabion baskets,” wire cages filled with stone that can be molded and tailored to the dimensions of each area. See the photographs below.
In addition, the Community Preservation Committee and the City Council approved additional funding to support mandatory reporting to the state and federal regulatory authorities regarding the stabilization work in the contaminated soil area, as well as managing the completion of the interim detour and finalizing the rest of the trail. We are currently negotiating with consultants regarding scope and fees for re-engineering, modifying permits, and pulling together a bid package for a municipal project that will re-construct a stone revetment along the shoreline and raise the grade several feet so the trail can be built on top, in order to provide resiliency to current and future sea level rise and storm surge. This approach will also help protect the critical infrastructure of the Wastewater Treatment Facility behind the Rail Trail. Additional funding will be needed, and we are working with Lieutenant Governor Polito and the Baker Administration to try to secure funding that was authorized in the Commonwealth’s Environmental Bond Bill through a $750,000 legislative authorization for this project.
