Water, Traffic Concerns Addressed On Bioscience Tower

Do you know about the floods?

A neighbor asked a city official that in a discussion about plans to build the bioscience tower on the former Route 34 Connector at 101 College St.

The discussion took place Wednesday night a virtual Hill South Community Management Team meeting. It was the latest in a series of city and neighborhood meetings about the proposed building, which is projected to cost $100 million to build and create 700 to 1,000 permanent jobs.

“Here’s the thing. I worked at Temple Medical for years right at that intersection. Water flooded that area during high tides, and we used to have six inches of water in the basement when we had extra rain,” said Hill South neighbor Paul Larrivee.

Economic development chief Michael Piscitelli took the question. He said he has had long experience with this problem.

Piscitelli (pictured above) said that flooding at the intersection of Temple and College Street was partially caused by a clogged drainage pipe. When the city cleared out the pipe in 2013, they found a shopping cart wedged in the pipe. Piscitelli said that once the shopping cart was gone, the area has handled water much better.

The city has further plans to prevent flooding in the area as it gradually rebuilds the city grid removed by urban renewal and the construction of the Connector, which is now being filled in gradually under the Downtown Crossing project. Piscitelli said that one part of this solution is bioswales, plant beds that catch and filter water.

The only other question about the building that evening was from longtime neighborhood leader Johnny Dye, who asked how the project would deal with traffic in the area.

Piscitelli answered that traffic-calming is always a work in progress. Nevertheless, Piscitelli said that the road improvements will likely channel traffic more towards the large boulevards that can handle it.

Read more about 101 College Street here, here and here.