City to conduct flood wall exercise on Main Street bridge Wednesday

The city will be conducting a flood wall installation exercise on the Main Street Bridge this week as part of its annual flood preparations.

Beginning Wednesday, February 7 at 9:30 a.m. Main Street will be closed between Water Street and Queen Square so crews can take inventory of the wall parts, construct and tear down the flood walls, and review the procedure with any new staff to ensure we are prepared in the event of a flood emergency.

The flood wall system was put in place following the 1974 flood that inundated the city.

This year marks the 50^th anniversary since that flood.

The exercise is expected to wrap up by 2 p.m. with the road and bridge reopening at that time.

We’ll be testing our flood wall tomorrow (Feb 7) on the Main St. Bridge!
Beginning at 9:30 am, the road will be closed (Queens Square to Water St.) for this important work. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/N5Sth5p2RF

— City of Cambridge (@cityofcambridge) February 6, 2024