Flooding A Pitfall Of Medford Safe Routes To School Project

MEDFORD, MA —A project to improve safety for children walking to school has unexpectedly exacerbated flooding in one Medford neighborhood, residents say.

The city council held a committee of the whole meeting Jan. 12 on flooding at the corner of Woburn and High Streets, where safety changes were implemented near the Brooks Elementary School as part of MassDOT's Safe Routes to School initiative.

That project involved installing bump-outs to pull the geometry of the intersection in, slowing down vehicles, shortening the length of the crosswalk and providing a tighter turning radius for cars, City Engineer Tim McGivern said.

An unexpected byproduct of the work: water pooling in the bump-outs, which has exacerbated flooding that has plagued the neighborhood for decades, Jill Richard, a longtime resident of High Street, said.

"For 20 years, I've been trying to get them to address this," Richard said. "Every time there's a fix, it seems to get worse rather than better."

Since the safety improvements were installed, Richard said her basement has flooded twice with two inches of water. She said an initial fix years ago – the city paved over a catch basin that was spilling over and creating mud in her yard – was not a permanent solution, and wants the state to step in to fund remediation measures.

The issue stems from a lack of drainage infrastructure in the neighborhood, something that is not unique to that part of the city. McGivern said piping was cut short in that area, leaving the water to run down the hill to two infiltration systems on Woburn Street.

While MassDOT, which has jurisdiction over the project, has developed a solution for the flooding, McGivern said the agency has struggled to get in contact with its contractor. In the meantime, he said claims for flood damages can be filed through MassDOT, a process by which Richard has not been able to find any relief.

"They said it wasn't their fault and I should focus on the contractor, the contractor said it wasn't his fault, he didn't design it," Richard said. "Nobody disagrees it's not my fault, but they're not paying for it either."

Erin Sullivan, a resident of Woburn Street, said flooding has created an additional hazard for parents and children in the cold weather.

"A lot of kids are being walked down Woburn Street, and parents have to continue to walk them because crosswalks are turning to sheets of ice," Sullivan said.

Daniel Nuzzo-Mueller, who also lives on Woburn Street, asked about the notification process for changes to the design. He voiced his frustration over having to press for communication about the project, which McGivern clarified went through two iterations before a temporary solution was considered.

"There's been no communication on the plans until one of us goes and pushes," Nuzzo-Mueller said.

The fix for now is the rocks outside of residents' homes – City Councilor Richard Caraviello described them as "giant, godawful" – but McGivern is confident MassDOT's plan, when implemented, will alleviate flooding in the area.

Beyond that, McGivern is open to running pipe beneath the street, a more expansive project that will have "substantial cost and impact," he said.

"MassDOT's solution doesn't say that a pipe solution can't happen in the future," he added.

The city council voted 6-0 to reconvene the committee of the whole in 30 days, with a representative from MassDOT in attendance.