Beginning Thursday, June 16, 2016, and continuing through Friday, June 17, 2016, Eversource Gas will begin an abandonment project in the area of Walden Street and Sherman Street that extends to the Mount Auburn Hospital. During this time, the entire 16” gas main that is being abandoned at Walden and Sherman Streets will be depressurized. This will result in strong odors of gas in the area. It is anticipated that there will be calls from the community reporting this odor. Work on this project will begin at 9:00 AM and expected to run late into the evening. Although overnight work is not expected, noise variances have been submitted and approved if this becomes necessary.
On Friday (starting at 9:00 AM) work will continue with nitrogen being released into the 16” gas main from the feed point at Mt. Auburn Hospital. This nitrogen will displace the remaining/residual gas in the main. The gas will be purged from both purge points on Walden at Sherman as well as Bay State Road at New Street. There will be some odors associated with this phase of the operation, but not as much as the previous day. Work should be completed by 3 pm.
During this operation, the intersection will be partly shut down. Traffic on Walden (heading north) will be detoured at Garden Street (heading east) then to Huron Ave (heading north) to Sherman Street (heading west) and back onto Walden (heading north). The traffic on Walden (heading south) will be detoured at Sherman (heading east) to Huron (heading south) onto Garden (heading west) and back onto Walden (heading south). Traffic heading inbound on Sherman will be maintained. Traffic heading outbound on Sherman will be maintained.
Those with questions or concerns should contact Eversource customer service at 800-592-2000.