The Amelia Earhart Dam is an

earth-fill dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...

spanning the

Mystic River The Mystic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in Massachusetts, in the United States. In Massachusett, means "large estuary," alluding to t ...

near its mouth between

Somerville Somerville may refer to: *Somerville College, Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford Places *Somerville, Victoria, Australia * Somerville, Western Australia, a suburb of Kalgoorlie, Australia * Somerville, New Zealand, a subur ...

and Everett, Massachusetts. It was built in 1966 to regulate tidal effects and the incursion of salt water in the upstream river basin. It has 3 locks for marine traffic. The largest is 325 feet long, and 45 feet wide; the two smaller locks are 120 feet long and, 22 feet wide. There is no public access to the dam. The dam is named after the aviation pioneer

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...

whose plane disappeared in 1937. Earhart lived in nearby Medford, Massachusetts in the 1920s. The City of Somerville's 2017 Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment noted that by 2035, a

100-year flood A 100-year flood is a flood event that has a 1 in 100 chance (1% probability) of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The 100-year flood is also referred to as the 1% flood, since its annual exceedance probability is 1%.Holmes, R.R., Jr. ...

would flank the dam, and by 2070, overtop it, leading to major impacts on low-lying areas such as

Assembly Square Assembly Square is a neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts. It is located along the west bank of the Mystic River, bordered by Ten Hills and Massachusetts Route 28 to the north and the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston to the south. The dis ...

. In 2018, 21 cities and towns near the

requested flood prevention and mitigation funding, including approximately $20 million for an additional pump.

References

External links

Tide predictions for the Amelia Earhart Dam
Dams in Massachusetts Mystic River Earth-filled dams Dams completed in 1966 Locks of the United States Monuments and memorials to Amelia Earhart Buildings and structures in Somerville, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Everett, Massachusetts Transportation buildings and structures in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Transportation buildings and structures in Massachusetts {{US-dam-stub