A long-awaited flood control project to help alleviate flooding in neighborhoods in West Quincy is underway along Furnace Brook, city officials announced this week.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant is paying for the design to increase the brook’s capacity and regrading the banks along the brook to augment flood storage.
The work is being undertaken by Flynn Construction Company of Milton with oversight from Woodward and Curran Engineering and Granite City Partners. The city’s Department of Natural Resources has assisted with project monitoring and advocated for the protection of as many trees as possible.
“Residents in West Quincy have been enduring flooding losses for decades,” Mayor Thomas Koch said in a statement. “The city has been working on a multi-faceted and multi-phased plan to help protect our residents from the destruction of their properties. We have made gains in this fight and this project will be another positive way to protect our neighborhoods.”
The Department of Natural Resources has worked with the contractor and project engineers to analyze the project impacts and work to save as much native vegetation as possible. The regrading of the banks will impact existing vegetation but there is a robust revegetation plan for the areas around the brook.
Flynn Construction will redesign the brook to create a more “meandering” design to increase capacity. The company will also regrade the slopes along the banks between Quarry Street and Fr. McMahon Way to allow for better flood storage during periods of high rain.
This project is a multi-jurisdictional project with involvement various local, state and federal entities, including the Quincy Department of Natural Resources; the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Division of Marine Fisheries; and FEMA.
Work will focus on the area between Quarry Street and Cross Street. The project timeline has an approximate completion date in fall 2023, with plantings continuing into next spring.
City officials said a couple dozen trees were removed as part of the project, including invasive and overgrown ones. More than 50 new trees will be planted.