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Smelt Brook Local Protection Project

Smelt Brook Local Protection ProjectThe Smelt Brook Local Protection Project is located on Smelt Brook in Braintree and Weymouth in an area commonly called Weymouth Landing. The project provides flood-protection to eight acres of highly developed land that was subject to periodic flooding from Smelt Brook. This area includes over 40 commercial businesses and a portion of Route 53. Construction began in July 1974 and was completed in May 1976 at a cost of $1.8 million.

The project consists of a small concrete dam and outlet works at Pond Meadow Lake that maintain a permanent lake of 19 acres; an earthfill dike 300 feet long and five feet high adjacent to Pond Meadow Lake; widening, deepening, and straightening 800 feet of the channel at the lower end of Smelt Brook near the Monatiquot River; and a 1,140-foot-long reinforced concrete conduit eight feet in diameter that conveys Smelt Brook through Weymouth Landing’s business district.

The project also includes a fish gate that allows rainbow smelt to swim from the ocean into Smelt Brook to spawn. This fish makes an annual spawning run from its home in marine estuaries to fresh water streams and brooks. The project is operated and maintained by the Weymouth-Braintree Regional Recreation Conservation Commission.