NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren got a closeup view the "concrete scar" that runs through the center of North Adams. After standing in the rain to observe the collapsed panel at Willow Dell, she said she understood the need repairing or replacing the 70-year-old flood chutes. 

 

That will likely need Congress to "nudge" the Army Corps of Engineers, the senator said on Friday.

 

"I really appreciate the mayor and rep, and senator emphasizing the urgency of getting a plan in place that will make the Hoosic River both safe and accessible for the people of North Adams," said Warren. 

 

"Right here in North Adams, we have a great infrastructure project, we just got to make sure that everybody in Congress gets on board and helps get the funding through. And it's not a matter of let's get it through in five years, or six years or eight years, as the mayor has said, we need this right now."

 

The state's senior senator had planned to visit the city back in June to see the condition of the flood chutes but had to reschedule. On Friday afternoon, she listened to Judith Grinnell and other members of the Hoosic River Revival explain their vision for the river at City Hall with Mayor Jennifer Macksey, state Sen. Adam Hinds and state Reps. John Barrett III and Paul Mark. 

 

"We've been working on this project a long time with the Hoosic River Revival organization," said Macksey. "And it's just time. We need to safeguard our community, and work on the flood control and take care of the safety, then we work on beautification, therefore, that leads to economic development down the road."

 

The nonprofit Hoosic River Revival has been working for years to restore the as much of the river as possible into a more natural attraction along the lines of similar works in San Antonio, Texas, and Colorado. The possibilities include walking and biking paths, fishing areas and a stepped amphitheater that would allow for overflows to contain the river. 

 

River revival founder Judith Grinnell said the group had first looked at the river as a beauty project but than realized it had to also be a public safety project. 

 

The Hoosic River Basin Flood Control System was constructed in the 1940s and 1950s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prevent the destruction and loss of life in North Adams after a number of devastating floods. It took 11 years and $18.8 million to dredge and bank some 6 miles of river and contain more than a mile of it with concrete walls.

 

The chutes, made up of 20-foot concrete panels, are literally falling apart. Five have fallen into the river, including one just outside Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art's $65 million Building 5. Four of those have been repaired but more are leaning and the one in Willow Dell, not far from a bridge carrying Route 2, has been down since 2011. 

 

The Corps has acknowledged that the system is failing but has calculated that the cost of replacing it doesn't measure up to the what would be lost if it doesn't, in terms of buildings. Grinnell said the group has been working with the Corps since 2008 but hasn't been able to get past that "sticky wicket."

 

"We estimated that there's an excess of $600 million in property assets, real and personal, in the city that would be in jeopardy plus about $240 million in art inside Mass MoCA," said HRR board member Kristin Graves, adding that doesn't include the $52 million Mass MoCA pumps into the region, plus the highway and rail transportation that runs through the city.

 

Nor does it take into account the ecological and environmental benefits and the "livability of the city" were the river to be restored to a more natural configuration. 

 

Rough estimates for restoration are between $150 million and $200 million, about what the original cost would have been in today's dollars, said Grinnell. "We're asking for about the same, but we're going to get much more than protection. We're going to get an asset for the city."

 

She said the primary goal at this stage is funding a $3 million feasibility study, with one half coming from the federal government. Hinds said they have secured about a $1 million in state funding in the general government bond signed by the governor last month. 

 

U.S. Rep. Richie Neal had initially asked for $1.5 million as part of his Community Project Funding Request for Fiscal Year 2023. Only $200,000 was earmarked by the Appropriations Committee in the $57 billion Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies funding.

 

Barrett said, with the latest report on climate change, this project was no different than addressing beach erosion in Revere. "We have to be creative," he said. "But I don't if the Army Corps of Engineers is." 

 

They do what Congress tells them to do, responded Warren. "That's a little nudge ... this is something, obviously, we should be doing and I feel the urgency."

 

She did stress afterward that it would be a partnership with the state and city, and that she would have to drum up support in Congress with the state delegation, as well as New York State and Vermont "to remind them of the importance of this river for all our states."

 

"The state has received $9 billion in federal infrastructure bills money and and we also have been bonding for our General Government Appropriations," said Hinds. "So we have an opportunity. And it's really valuable to have the senator here with us today to figure out how all these pieces come together."

 

The revival had raised $2 million in private and public funds to begin planning and research and Grinnell shared some of those findings with the senator.

 

"Our dream, Senator Warren, is that we once again have a city river that is lovely to look at, healthy, accessible, and an economic development driver. Mass MoCA, as you know, has been and continues to be the catalyst for our fledgling renaissance," said Grinnell. "Water is a little bit different ... water appeals to a wide range of people and all of our information, based on the research we've done, says if you have an active river front, you're going to have an active downtown. 

 

"And we've got lots going on around Mass MoCA, we don't have much going on down here. We need something to bring people down town."