Hoosic River Measurements Taken by Army Corps of Engineers

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A team of surveyors from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was in the city last week to collect hydrology measurements along the north, south and main reaches of the Hoosic River.
 
The survey is part of the three-year, $3 million feasibility study of the flood control chutes being undertaken in agreement with the city and the Hoosic River Revival.
 
The concrete panels that line the chutes have been decaying for years and several have already fallen into the river. While the system saved the city from periodic catastrophic floods, the chutes are now seen as unsightly, ecologically destitute, and in dire need repair or restoration. 
 
The Hoosic River Revival has been advocating for a more modern and environmental solution to flooding risks that will also highlight the river as a recreational resource. 
 
The Flood Risk Management Project is looking at the six miles of the North and main branches of the river and 3.5 miles of the South Branch.
 
The study's objectives are to reduce risks to life, health and property associated with Hoosic flooding; reduce the risk of the flood control's failure; improve community resilience; reduce the risk of flooding economically disadvantaged communities and historic properties; and increase the quantity or quality of the river habitat. 
 
Measurements taken last week are to identify the quantity and quality of water moving through the chutes during the year and will be used to predict what might happen in the river with modernization of the flood chutes, and without any change in the chutes. This work is expected to improve the reliability of the Corps' flood management designs that were discussed last fall with the North Adams community. 
 
Mayor Jennifer Macksey, members of her staff, and Hoosic River Revival met with the Corps of Engineers team to discuss the data and extensive technical studies the Corps is undertaking in order to evaluate the modernization options. Upon completion of the multi-year study, the Corps will recommend a modernizing plan for the deteriorating flood control system.  
 
Later this fall, the city and HRR will again offer public meetings for the community to learn about the study's progress and to share their thoughts about activities they would like to have in and around the river. 
 

Tags: Army Corps of Engineers,   flood control,   Hoosic River,   

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North Adams' Route 2 Study Looks at 'Repair, Replace and Remove'

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Attendees make comments and use stickers to indicate their thoughts on the priorities for each design.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Nearly 70 residents attended a presentation on Saturday morning on how to stitch back together the asphalt desert created by the Central Artery project.
 
Of the three options proposed — repair, replace or restore — the favored option was to eliminating the massive overpass, redirect traffic up West Main and recreate a semblance of 1960s North Adams.
 
"How do we right size North Adams, perhaps recapture a sense of what was lost here with urban renewal, and use that as a guide as we begin to look forward?" said Chris Reed, director of Stoss Landscape Urbanism, the project's designer.
 
"What do we want to see? Active street life and place-making. This makes for good community, a mixed-use downtown with housing, with people living here ... And a district grounded in arts and culture."
 
The concepts for dealing with the crumbling bridge and the roads and parking lots around it were built from input from community sessions last year.
 
The city partnered with Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art for the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program and was the only city in Massachusetts selected. The project received $750,000 in grant funding to explore ways to reconnect what Reed described as disconnected "islands of activity" created by the infrastructure projects. 
 
"When urban renewal was first introduced, it dramatically reshaped North Adams, displacing entire neighborhoods, disrupting street networks and fracturing the sense of community that once connected us," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey. "This grant gives us the chance to begin to heal that disruption."
 
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