Anchoring the Alewife ramp
For three days in July, crews dug and poured concrete for an anchor to complete a ramp to Henderson Street just east of the bridge over the brook.
View of new concrete and ramp end, WSW from Henderson St., July 18
The nearly finished ramp had been standing unchanged since mid-May.
From Henderson St. July 18, ESE
On July 18, workers dug trenches and poured concrete for the lower part of the anchor foundation, just feet from the edge of Henderson Street where that road prepares to cross the Alewife Brook.
The foundation forms a kind of inverted U shape with ells on either side: ⎍.
As part of this work, the work crew removed the old metal gate that had been blocking the path.
The next day, workers poured a second level of concrete on top of the first.
Poured concrete grew on July 19. Vew is roughly east, facing Route 16 and Henderson St. Bridge.
On the following day, July 20, a crew came and covered most of the foregoing with dirt.
All filled in on July 20 (ESE view).
There was nothing for a week.
Then on July 27 workers returned and installed granite curbing, along the street, facing the ramp, and a circular curb in the center of the entrance.
Granite curbs added July 27. View is ESE from just by the Henderson St. bridge.
A couple of things happened the next day. A little after 8 AM, a backhoe loader chugged down Cottage Ave. Ten minutes later it chugged back, the broken up bits of the concrete entrance to the Alewife path in its maw.
The concrete apron, poured last September, had been subsequently cracked by heavy construction equipment.
Where the concrete used to be
I was busy getting my daughter ready for camp and took no pictures, but here’s a photo of the spot where that concrete apron used to be, looking west later that day.
Meanwhile, back at the ramp, the crew poured concrete, to give us a new sidewalk:
New sidewalk poured on July 28. View is WSW from Henderson St. Bridge.
I had not realized that we would lose the curb cut to the path, or that there would be a sidewalk.
Three feet separate the ramp from the new sidewalk.
The new work has narrowed the gap between the ramp and the street to three feet. Dare we hope that it will be bridged soon?
This has been yet another detour on a blog that is (really!) about Mass. Ave.
I nonetheless publish occasional photos of the Alewife Path construction that is near my house: previous, next, first, all.
(As a reader pointed out, the path does cross Mass. Ave. Just not here.)
Here’s how things stand at the end of the month, from the top of the ramp area looking south:
South from Henderson Street on July 28.
