By Michael Coughlin Jr.
Members from the Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) joined the Gove Street Citizens Association’s (GSCA) monthly meeting on Monday, May 22, regarding a proposal for ongoing and upcoming work in the area.
The proposal stems from a project that began back in the fall of 2021. As part of this project, work has been completed on Cottage and Orleans Streets, and now the remaining work is to be completed at Sumner and Maverick Streets.
“So right now, we’re going to be working on Sumner Street, in the Orleans area, I’ll say, but really it’s the Maverick Square Station. So that’s the next section of work that’s going to be coming up over the next, I’ll say, two months,” said Ryan Shea, the Acting Director of the Construction Division at BWSC.
“Over the next two months, we’re going to wrap up some waterwork on the Maverick Square Station area. Then we’re going to transition over to the other side of Cottage Street at Sumner and finish up some sewer separation work over here between Cottage and, I believe, it’s Lamson.”
Following the work mentioned above, Shea explained that the remaining work would be on Maverick Street from Cottage to Orleans.
Essentially, the proposal mentioned by Shea is to request that the remaining work be done on both streets this summer.
“What I’d like to see is if we could have crews work on both Sumner and Maverick this summer with the intention or the hope that we would be out of your neighborhood for mid-November and give you a little bit of breathing room,” said Shea.
This proposal is being brought forward because if the BWSC were to work on one street at a time, due to the City of Boston shutting down this work from November to April, they would have to return next spring to complete the work on Maverick Street.
“It’s going to be your choice as to how we go about executing that work,” said Shea.
Regarding what effects this work might have on vehicular access Shea indicated that on Sumner Street, there should be no issues, and one-way traffic should be able to get through the whole time.
However, regarding Maverick Street between Cottage and Orleans, there may be vehicular impacts, but Shea indicated that the area is easy to circumvent or detour. In terms of pedestrian access, Shea thought it would be maintained throughout construction.
One resident asked if the area would be stuck with “crappy roads” if work could not be completed by the November shutdown; however, Shea said no.
“If you let us work on both, Maverick and Sumner, It’ll give us the best chance of being out of the neighborhood prior to November 15,” said Shea.
It should be noted that this request or proposal to work on both Sumner and Maverick Streets this summer is in its early stages. The BWSC plans to go before the Jeffries Point Neighborhood Association (JPNA) on Monday, June 12, to discuss the request in more detail.
As this process unfolds, Carlos Muñoz, a GSCA Board Member, indicated that the association would coordinate with the JPNA to get an answer to the BWSC regarding the proposal.
“We look forward to seeing further developed plans at the June 12 meeting,” said Muñoz.