The Hayward Creek Local Protection Project is located on Hayward Creek in Braintree and Quincy.

The project provides flood protection to about 16 acres of predominantly commercial and industrial properties in Quincy and Braintree, in the vicinity of West Howard Street and Quincy Avenue. The protected area includes part of the former Quincy Shipyard, now owned by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

Construction began in March 1977 and was completed in August 1978 at a cost of $2.6 million. It is operated and maintained by Braintree and Quincy.

Structural elements of the project include an earthfill dike 100 feet long with a maximum elevation of 27 feet at the southeast corner of Hayward Pond; a concrete floodwall 150 feet long with a maximum elevation of 27 feet constructed at the centerline of the dike; an earthfill dam upstream of the upper end of Hayward Pond 320 feet long and 15 feet high; an earthfill dike 40 feet long and five feet high built across Echo Creek that diverts Echo Creek into the wetlands; and a 2,800 foot-long reinforced concrete pipe conduit system that conveys flows from Hayward Creek to Fore River.

The project also involved increasing the height of the existing Hayward Pond Dam by four feet to 25.5 feet, and clearing, deepening, and widening 720 feet of the Hayward Creek channel from the Hayward Pond outlet to West Howard Street, near the Quincy-Braintree town line.

Important to the success of the project is the preservation of upstream wetlands and a 33-acre natural greenbelt area adjacent to Hayward Pond.