A Vision for the Future: Flood Resilience in the Charlestown Navy Yard

The Charlestown Navy Yard faces threats from coastal flooding and storm impacts.

NPS Photo/J. Hammond

The National Parks of Boston is in the midst of a process to reimagine the Charlestown Navy Yard for the next century. This includes how the Navy Yard functions as a park headquarters, how it is experienced as a visitor destination, and its role as a neighborhood hub and gateway to the Harbor Islands, all while honoring its commitment to safeguard the nation’s historic legacy. The Navy Yard Master Development Strategy, Visitor Experience Plan, and the planned Gateway Center are all part of a vision of the Charlestown Navy Yard as a modern, connected, urban national park.

Project Goals

• Provide flood protection to the buildings, historic resources, and infrastructure of the Navy Yard from high-tide and storm flooding, storm surge, and destructive waves.
• Implement site use and visitor experience improvements that enhance mobility and access, create social spaces, and provide transportation connections to destinations beyond.
• Incorporate resilience planning into Navy Yard visioning to ensure park investments are effective, efficient, and future-ready.
• Establish the Navy Yard as a world-class destination worthy of America’s Ship of State, as well as a gateway to experiencing Boston’s history and the recreational and educational opportunities of the Boston Harbor Islands.

Protecting our Legacy

One of six original yards established by the US Navy in 1800, the Charlestown Navy Yard served as a center for building, servicing, and outfitting the nation’s navy for nearly 175 years. Today, this National Historic Landmark is home to some of our most treasured historic resources, including USS Constitution, America’s Ship of State. The Navy Yard is also the park headquarters for National Parks of Boston and home to Naval History & Heritage Command Detachment Boston.

The Navy Yard’s harbor-front location makes its resources vulnerable to flooding and storm impacts. Flood resilience measures will provide protection to the historic resources, visitor and park facilities, and critical infrastructure of the Navy Yard, while contributing to a landscape-scale strategy to protect the Charlestown neighborhood from future storms.

This project will produce designs for a connected system of elevated walkways, public spaces, and other structures that will provide protection for the Navy Yard from coastal storms and flooding, while enhancing waterfront access, transportation connections, and visitor experience. In addition to improving the connection of the Boston Harborwalk through the Navy Yard, the project will connect visitor amenities like the future Gateway Center visitor information center with multiple transportation modes, including commercial tour boats and buses, MBTA ferry and bus service, and pedestrian trails and bikeways along the Freedom Trail. The project is part of a larger effort to improve resilience along 47 miles of Boston waterfront, integrating directly with a City of Boston design project abutting NPS property to the east.

Diagram showing projected flooding from a 100-year storm in 2050. Blue shading indicates flood depths up to three feet.

MC-FRM Flood Model

Photo showing flood waters pouring into Dry Dock 1 in the Charlestown Navy Yard. Many of the park’s resources are vulnerable to coastal flooding.

NPS Photo

A Unified Vision

The Charlestown Navy Yard Resilience project offers opportunities to tie visitor improvement efforts together with a connected sequence of circulation and social spaces that provide a clear and engaging way to experience the resources of the park. The project will formalize the connection of Boston’s Harborwalk through the Navy Yard, providing an uninterrupted pedestrian route along Charlestown’s waterfront. The project will also activate the water’s edge along Pier 1 to offer opportunities to host neighborhood events, live music, public art, and visiting ships, while improving the interactive experience with Constitution, Cassin Young, and the park’s other attractions.

Finally, the project will improve the Navy Yard’s role as a gateway to the Boston Harbor Islands and downtown Boston, providing facility improvements and transportation connections to MBTA ferries, harbor tour boats, commercial tour boats and buses, and walking and biking tours along the Freedom Trail.

Conceptual drawing showing potential flood mitigation and site improvement options.

A Connected Response

Flood resilience measures in the Charlestown Navy Yard are part of a city-wide effort to improve the resilience of Boston’s 47 miles of coastline, building on the city’s Climate Ready Boston and Coastal Resilience Solutions initiatives. Flood resilience planning projects are underway throughout the city, including active design and feasibility studies for improvements to Long Wharf in downtown Boston and for the Charlestown Navy Yard area extending from the NPS site to the head of Little Mystic Channel. Close coordination with the city’s projects will ensure a connected, effective approach to protecting Boston’s coastal neighborhoods.