Drainage relief comes to Maple Street
Published on November 21st, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - Stonehamites living along the Sweetwater Brook are in their final year of flooding frustration.
R.A.D., Inc. of Hanover will begin construction of a larger Maple Street culvert in four to six weeks. The system is designed to prevent flooding along the Sweetwater Brook in a 10 year’s storm, meaning a storm of a severity seen only once every 10 years. The existing culvert is nine feet wide and four feet high. The new one will be 14 feet wide and six feet high.
“Some people say, ‘Why not design to withstand a 100 year’s storm,’ but we can’t because of an agreement between communities,” Grover said. “What we divert gets sent to someone else.”
R.A.D.’s low bid was $237,910 to be paid from the town’s drainage account. The engineering firm of Fay Spofford and Thorndike estimated the job for the town at $260,000.
“We got a good price,” said Town Engineer Bob Grover. He added that R.A.D. did a good job building the Bear Hill detention pond completed this year. Both Bear Hill and Maple Street were identified as trouble spots by a townwide drainage study two years ago.
Grover said the Maple Street work should be done by next spring, depending on the weather. At least one lane of Maple Street will be open throughout the project; two-way traffic will continue by diverting traffic onto private property per prearranged agreements, but delays are unavoidable.
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