Boston and Revere plan road and park elevations, marsh restoration for Bennington Street flood risk

Catherine McCandless, senior climate resilience project manager for the City of Boston Office of Climate Resilience, told the Nantucket Coastal Resilience Advisory Committee on May 13 that Boston is designing a multi‑jurisdictional project to raise Bennington Street and elevate Fredericks Park to reduce coastal flood risk in East Boston and adjacent Revere.

McCandless said the Bennington Street and Fredericks Park project will "move down Bennington Street and wrap around the perimeter of the park," addressing flooding that currently overtops the roadway from the neighboring Belle Isle Marsh and disrupts the MBTA Blue Line access and a K–8 school in Revere.

The project is one example of Boston's larger Climate Ready Boston program. McCandless summarized that planning has prioritized near‑term 2030 flood pathways and longer‑term protections through technical studies and partnerships, including a six‑year U.S. Army Corps of Engineers coastal storm risk management study that the city said could enable a 65/35 federal cost share for major construction.

Why this matters: Bennington Street is an evacuation corridor serving East Boston, Winthrop and Revere; the marsh adjacent to the roadway is ecologically significant and regulated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. McCandless said the roadway and Fredericks Park…