Welcome back to the City of Somerville's construction newsletter!

Work to repair Somerville City Hall's clock tower gets underway.

Construction crews were out working this November to make crossing the street safer at key locations across Somerville. We're back to highlight some of these recently completed streetscape improvements as well as look ahead to more intersection improvements planned for 2025.

In addition to these traffic calming efforts, we'd be remiss not mention the ongoing work to improve our sewer and stormwater systems or repairs to our historical city hall.

As always, if you have any questions about the work below (or any work in the city) please don't hesitate to reach out to us at

construction@somervillema.gov.

What We're Sharing This Month: 

• Western Washington Street - Raised Crossings and Pavement Markings
• More Raised Crossings and Upcoming Intersection Improvements
• Sewer Cleaning and Inspection Work Underway
• Poplar Street Pump Station Progress
• Mystic Outfall and Sewer Separation - Preliminary Design Concepts
• Superterranean Somerville: Work Begins to Repair City Hall's Clock Tower

Last month crews installed three raised crossings (two of which are pictured below) to help people get from one side of the newly-paved Washington Street to the other more safely. 

New raised crossing at Washington St./Magnus Ave. (left) and raised intersection at Washington Street/Caldwell Ave. (right).

Now that these raised crossings have been built, City contractors are working to complete remaining construction items and on sitewide cleanup ahead of the winter season.

Among the remaining construction items

• Installation of remaining signage and pavement markings.
• Installation of drainage structures to correct minor road and sidewalk grading issues to prevent water from pooling.
• Removal of tree protection.
• Introduction of new pedestrian signals at the intersection of Washington Street/Calvin Street/Dane Street.
• Installation of flex-posts along the street-level bike lanes is expected to take place prior to the end of the year (2024).
• Due to procurement challenges, addition of concrete barriers has been delayed until 2025. We are currently anticipating installation will take place in spring ‘25 at the earliest.

Washington Street isn’t the only place in Somerville that saw new raised crossings this past month. 

Crews, as part of the City’s Pavement and Sidewalk Management Plan, also installed a new raised intersection on Cameron Avenue at Tannery Brook Row (pictured below) and a raised crossing on Cedar Street at the community path.

New raised intersection and crosswalks across Cameron Ave. near the city line.

Crews also worked to install new drainage structures at the intersection of Holland Street/Irving Street/Thorndike Street. These drainage improvements will facilitate creation of a raised intersection at the location next spring. 

Also planned for 2025 are three targeted intersection improvement projects involving raised crossing:

• Somerville Avenue at Central Street
• Bow Street at Walnut Street
• Washington Street at Merriam Street

More information on these efforts is available at somervillema.gov/intersectionimprovements.

Somerville has more than 180 miles of sewer and stormwater drainage pipes located beneath our streets. Each year we clean and inspect a portion of these–maintaining their functionality and identifying areas in need of repair before any issues arise. 

This year crews set out to inspect over 190,000 linear feet of pipe around Teele Square, Davis Square, Spring Hill, Prospect Hill, and Assembly Square. Work is in progress and will continue through the remainder of the year. 

Map depicting coverage areas for sewer cleaning and inspection program (2020-2024).

Work typically only takes a few hours in any given location and does not require digging.

Check out the 90-second video below to see the process from start to finish.

Work to transform how roughly 60% of the city’s stormwater drainage is managed continues at 10 Poplar Street and on nearby streets.

Crews are working simultaneously to construct the 4-million-gallon stormwater storage tank at the 10 Poplar Street site and install associated utilities along Linwood and Poplar Street that will connect the City’s system to the MBTA’s drainage system underneath the Green Line Extension.

Following installation of the tank’s 1,200+ cubic yard concrete base this summer, City contractors have been working to complete installation of the tank’s walls. Once walls are complete, crews will install the tank’s concrete slab roof.

Work at the 10 Poplar Street site is expected to continue through the winter, while work on nearby streets is expected to break for the winter at the end December before resuming in the spring. 

Miss last month’s Mystic Outfall open house? Posters from the open house highlighting key components of the preliminary design are available on our project website. 

After reviewing the posters, you can share your feedback on where you’ve experienced flooding in the area or see opportunities to improve the streetscape. 

More about this project

Through this project, the City will be rehabilitating the existing utilities in Winter Hill, Ten Hills, and the neighborhood west of Foss Park. To support stormwater management in this area and beyond, the City is also installing new drainage infrastructure and constructing a new stormwater outfall pipe that will discharge to the Mystic River. This project will reduce flood risk in the surrounding area and help maintain the water quality of local rivers.  

In addition to the underground utility improvements, this project will also include street safety improvements and green infrastructure (drainage features designed to mimic natural processes such as irrigated planting areas, bioretention basins with select soils and plants that catch and filter stormwater, new trees, etc.) throughout the neighborhood.

As work progresses we'll provide updates on the effort, including on restoration of the clock face and mechanism which date back to the 1920s.

There is a lot of work being done in Somerville as we look to modernize and improve our city’s infrastructure, and we can’t cover it all in one email.

Stay up-to-date with what’s going on in your neighborhood and around the city via the following channels: 

• Sign up for City Alerts - Receive important notifications about work in your area.

• Follow us on Twitter - Tweets about curb-cuts, culverts, and more.

• Visit our new construction page - A comprehensive look at work across the city.

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