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City’s revitalization project garners Boston Globe’s
front page
New Bedford envisions river with room to row
Boathouse part of Acushnet plan
By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff
 NEW
BEDFORD - In the mid-1900s, industries tossed tons of
hazardous materials into New Bedford Harbor,
transforming the once-pristine haven into one of the
most polluted harbors in the country.
Marine life dwindled, property values along the shore
sank, and the harbor became a punch line for jokes and
the home of an alphabet soup of chemical compounds.
But now, the city is embarking on an estimated $40
million plan to develop the banks of the Acushnet River,
the northernmost section of the inlet that forms New
Bedford harbor. And part of that plan includes bringing
the sport of rowing to the river.
It may seem a bit of a stretch to imagine crew teams
sculling past the postindustrial wasteland that lines
the west bank of the Acushnet. But the plan, the
brainchild of Mayor Scott Lang, whose daughter is on the
Fordham College crew team, has the support of rowing
enthusiasts, as well as the US Environmental Protection
Agency, which is in the fourth year of a long term
effort to clean up the harbor.
"If you can row in the Charles River, you can row in the
Acushnet," said David Dickerson, the EPA project
manager.
Rowing specialists say the roughly mile-and-half stretch
of river north of the Coggshall Bridge, with its calm
waters and natural barriers to wind, is ideal for the
sport, which is experiencing a boom throughout the
country.
With enough available riverbank to accommodate a large
boathouse, docks, parking lots, and viewing areas, they
say, New Bedford could become one of the best courses in
New England. The harbor is easily accessible, located
just off Interstate 195.
"If you build it, they will come," said Albin Moser, a
US Rowing Association official and head of the
Narragansett Boat Club.
He predicted that high schools and colleges in the
region would flock to the course, and eventually it
might host a world-class rowing competition.
Moser said that the existing courses in the region - on
Lake Quinsigamond near Worcester, the Seekonk River in
Providence, and the Charles River in Cambridge - are
heavily used.
"I don't see a limit to what [the Acushnet course] could
host," Moser said.
He said he had visited the river last October at the
invitation of the city.
"The one thing that I hoped for was lousy weather on
that day, because that's when you want to see a rowing
course," he said. "But this course has a significant
amount of protection against the wind. The big regattas
are looking for venues that are well protected."
A team of 14 MIT graduate students is working on the
design of the boathouse, the largest component of the
project. The boathouse is to be located near Riverside
Park, a $3.5 million recreational site built in 2005.
Construction of the boathouse, estimated to cost $1.5
million, is expected to start in the spring, said
Matthew Morrissey, executive director of the New Bedford
Economic Development Council.
"With these courses, it doesn't take a lot of
infrastructure," Morrissey said. "We will probably see
some shells out by the end of the spring. Some rowers
have told us, 'Hey, you put a dock up, and we're
rowing.' "
In addition to the boathouse, the estimated $40 million
worth of renovations, funded by private developers, will
include retail and grocery stores and medical offices.
In separate projects, the city is planning to build a
multiuse walkway and bicycle and inline skating courses
on top of the massive dike that stretches across the
mouth of New Bedford Harbor where it opens into Buzzards
Bay.
The city is planning to narrow Route 18, which runs
along the harbor, to make the city's historic downtown
and waterfront areas more pedestrian-friendly.
City officials are also in talks with several casino
owners and developers to bring a casino to the harbor,
Morrissey said.
"We have a completely underutilized treasure and we want
to return it to the residents," said Kristin Decas,
executive director of the New Bedford Harbor Development
Committee. "We want to paint the canvas of what the
future will look like in New Bedford."
The Acushnet River is separated by three low-ceiling
bridges, the northernmost of which is Coggeshall, from
New Bedford's bustling fishing port, one of the busiest
in the country.
The course will be off-limits to powerboats and larger
vessels, but small sailboats, canoes, kayaks, and
rowboats will continue to be allowed in the river.
The EPA has been dredging the river since 2000, working
45 days a year, a schedule predicated on an annual
budget of $15 million for the New Bedford project.
At that rate, the entire cleanup would take 25 years,
Dickerson said. "We're looking at ways to speed up the
process," he said.
Lang said he realizes that boaters may have questions
about the safety of the harbor while the EPA is dredging
up toxic muck as part of its cleanup.
"The dredging is not something that will be incompatible
with this use," Lang said. "We'll be advising people not
to roll around in the mud, though."
Dickerson said rowers and other boaters can use the
Acushnet safely, even as the cleanup continues.
"The biggest concern is PCBs, ingesting seafood caught
in and around the harbor and coming into contact with
contaminated soil," he said. "We believe for the
purposes of rowing, we can work through these issues."
PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are oily fluids or
solids that were primarily used as lubricants and
coolants, but were banned in the United States in the
1970s after they were linked to cancer in humans,
according to the EPA. The substance does not break down.
Dickerson said that rowers will be advised to
immediately shower if they come into contact with the
water, which averages about six feet deep in the river.
"There should be some education and protocol on what to
do and probably some signage at the boathouse," he said.
October 6, 2007 |
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