Final Environmental Impact Report - Whittier Bridge/I-95 ...

Whittier Bridge/I-95 Improvement Project FEIR
Chapter 2.0: Response to Comments on the Environmental Assessment/Draft Environmental Impact Report
MassDOT has committed to the hiring of an experienced environmental monitor for the construction
of the project.
MassDOT anticipates the design/build contractor to utilize upland areas within the state highway
layout for staging or lay down areas. If the contractor chooses to create staging areas outside of the
state highway layout, the contractor must delineate all wetland resource areas adjacent to such
staging areas, and must isolate said wetland resource areas from staging areas with orange snow
fence, compost filter tubes, and limit of work signage. The contract documents will include language
that there will not be any wetland resource area impacts beyond those permitted within the
applicable environmental permits; such applies to the entire project area, including any staging areas
the contractor may choose.
EEA-9: The FEIR should identify how riverfront mitigation or restoration will comply with the WPA.
Response: MassDOT has documented compliance with the applicable performance standards of
310 CMR 10.58(4) and (5) within the Notices of Intent submitted to the municipalities of Amesbury
and Newburyport. This information has been included in section 1.4.4 and has been submitted to the
Newburyport and Amesbury conservation commissions. The project will restore all temporary
impacts on site, and will provide mitigation at a ratio of at least 1:1 for those impacts to previously
developed RFA not conforming to the criteria of 310 CMR 10.58(5)(c), (d), and (e), in accordance
with 310 CMR 10.58(5)(f). Restoration and mitigation will consist of loam, seed, and shrub and tree
plantings within the RFA.
EEA-10: The FEIR should include detailed plans of BVW replacement areas, including groundwater elevation
information, in accordance with the MassDEP March 2002 Massachusetts Inland Replication Guidelines.
Response: In accordance with the DEP guidance document, MassDOT has collected additional
details on the proposed BVW mitigation area to supplement the Amesbury NOI filing. The
information is included in section 1.4.5. Groundwater elevations will be monitored throughout 2012
and will be considered in the development of the final wetland mitigation construction plans by the
design/build contractor.
EEA-11: The FEIR must identify the area and the amount of any floodplain (Bordering Land Subject to Flooding
(BLSF)) impacted along the Merrimack River. The FEIR should clarify that project-related activities will be able to
meet WPA standards for BLSF and FEMA requirements for floodplain.
Response: The Newburyport and Amesbury Conservation Commissions reviewed and approved
Abbreviated Notices of Resource Area Delineations and issued ORADs with the floodplain in the
vicinity of the bridge classified as Land Subject to Coastal Storm Flowage. MassDEP has confirmed
that the ORADs are valid. Thus, there are no impacts to BLSF along the Merrimack River.
Project-related demolition of the four piers associated with the existing Whittier Bridge and
construction of the six piers (three pairs of in-line piers) associated with the new twin bridges could
potentially impact the Merrimack River‘s existing local National Flood Insurance Program Base (100-
year) Flood Elevation profile and Regulatory Floodway delineation. However, the proposed bridge
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