Muddy River Restoration Project

Restoraton Overview

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Since the fall of 1996, the Muddy River has flooded three times, causing damage to residents, businesses institutions and the public transit system in Boston and Brookline. The flooding has brought an urgency to the need to restore the river as a step in implementing the Emerald Necklace Master Plan of landscape and historic resource treatments that seek to undo the effects of erosion, storm damage and neglect over the years.

Muddy River 1920

The Muddy River Restoration Project is Phase I of the Emerald Necklace Master Plan. The objectives of the Muddy River Restoration Project are:

Subsequent phases will continue the treatment and restoration of historic and landscape resources; implement traffic circulation improvements for motor vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists; and restore bridges and other structures

Project Area

The Project Area is approximately 3.5 miles long and includes portions of Boston and Brookline. The watershed of the Muddy River encompasses 5.6 square miles and includes a portion of the City of Newton.

The river’s headwaters stem from Jamaica Pond and flow downstream through Wards Pond, Willow Pond and Leverett Pond in Olmsted Park. Crossing under Route 9 in a large conduit, the river flows through a long, narrow park section know as the Riverway. At the former Sears parking lot, the river flows through pipes underground to a gatehouse at Brookline Avenue. Historically, at the time of Olmsted, this gatehouse separated the fresh water Muddy River from the salt-water marsh known as the Back Bay Fens.

From the gatehouse, a portion of the river’s flow passes through a large underground pipe – known as the Muddy River Conduit – under Brookline Avenue to the Charles River near Kenmore Square. The other portion of the flow passes under Brookline Avenue into the Back Bay Fens. Beyond Brookline Avenue, the watercourse continues through the Fens, and under the Richardson Bridge at Boylston Street, where it enters the Charlesgate Area. In this area, there are numerous bridges: Ipswich Street, CSX Railroad (formerly Conrail), Massachusetts Turnpike (I- 90), Commonwealth Avenue, Beacon Street and, above the entire Charlesgate area, the Bowker Overpass. From the Charlesgate area, the watercourse passes through conduits under Storrow Drive and empties into the Charles River.