DPW finishes up Pleasant St. repairs

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

For the Transcript

The Winthrop Public Works Department (DPW) installed a new tide gate beneath Pleasant Street on Tuesday, April 28, near Donovan’s Beach, completing the final major piece of a reconstruction process that began four months ago. Pleasant Street collapsed under the weight of the roadway, after the water main break had significantly eroded away the earth and exposed several structural and safety issues under the street.

Among those issues was a failing 90-year old cast iron floodgate, that has long been blamed for many of the flooding issues at Ingleside Park.

“Of course, this whole project started with a water main break that occurred on January 17, and affected water pressure in about 50 or 60 percent of the town,” explained Public Works Director Dave Hickey. “As our crews were rushing around trying to find the water main break, a mom and her daughter, traveling in a Ford Escape, found it for them when the road collapsed.”

From that point on, the Winthrop Public Works Department has been in emergency repair mode, repairing the water main and the road, and now the associated tide gate located under the roadway.

“We considered our job to be a fully functioning repair of the issues that were exposed [during the street collapse],” said Hickey. “We believe the new tide gate will operate considerably better than the previous tide gate and will offer improved flood protection for many years to come.”

Hickey said the total cost of the four-month repair and reconstruction project has already climbed to $135,000, and there are still outstanding bills for pavement, curb setting, sidewalks and fence repair that will be coming. He anticipates the total cost of the repair could approach $200,000.

“The DPW is appreciative of the hard work done by our subcontractors, Meola Construction and Advance Pipe, as well as to the MWRA, who was very helpful during the project,” said Hickey. “But most importantly, we appreciate the public, which was significantly inconvenienced during this project, but by and large, was very patient with us.”