Shoreline Protection Task Force (inactivated February 2026)
The Shoreline Protection Task Force was originally established to address the rapid erosion of our shoreline in the vicinity of Allyn's Alley that was placing our main thruway of Chippechaug Trail at risk. The Committee contracted with GZA in 2022, a large global engineering firm, for an initial assessment (see below), who proposed construction of a Living Shoreline. While that idea was being researched, another idea was proposed in 2024 to protect Chippechaug Trail by building an in-ground sloped rock wall revetment. While the living shoreline option offered certain advantages that the rock wall revetment did not provide, such as slowing down the erosion; due to added complexities, certain unknowns, a higher cost, the need for government subsidies to complete the living shoreline option, and a lack of successful examples of living shoreline installation in our area, the rock wall revetment was selected and installed in 2025.
The Task Force was inactivated in February 2026 due to the completion of the project.
For historical reasons, certain documents from the project are available below.
