If you’ve been walking to Harvard Square from the Upper School (US) recently, you might have noticed new metal wires, neon orange fences and detour signs. Two major construction projects are ongoing near the US: Cambridge is demolishing the structurally-unsound Riverview Condominiums at 221 Mt. Auburn St., and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is preserving the Eliot Bridge across from the Upper School.
Riverview Condominiums
Built in 1963, the nine-story Riverview Condominiums housed 80 apartments near the Charles River. A 2023 roof repair alerted engineers to weaknesses in the building’s concrete slabs.
Cambridge Assistant Commissioner for Street Management/Traffic Director Jeffrey Parenti said sections of Mt. Auburn and Sparks Streets are closed from July 19 until around Jan. 1, 2026.
“Riverview Condominiums is in very poor structural condition, and structural engineers have determined there’s a remote possibility the building may fail before we’re able to remove it in a controlled way,” Mr. Parenti said. “To be cautious, we’ve closed some of the roadways around the building.”
By the end of 2024, all Riverview residents had evacuated. The city and the Riverview Board of Trustees are working with Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. to monitor the building’s cracks via biweekly drone footage.
In October, the construction team will share its demolition plans for the building for the deconstruction process that will begin in early November.
“It’s never happened before in my career where a building has to be evacuated for safety reasons, and it’s now a danger to the neighborhood. At this stage, we’re more concerned about the safe removal of the building than the delays to commuting.”
The city met with affected residents before the evacuations.
“When we met with the abutters and broke the news that this was coming up, we expected a lot of pushback, but what makes this unique is the tragic component to it and all the families who lost their homes almost overnight,” Mr. Parenti said. “They were thinking about it for quite a while, but they lost their home, they lost their investment, and that tempered the negative feelings about the detour.”
Lucy Song ’26 used to walk to school past the Riverview Condominiums.
“Now that the road around the building’s closed, I have to cross to the river to the bike path,” she said. “It was an adjustment because it adds an extra five minutes, which is one-fourth of my commute. I would love if they knocked down the building so we could reopen the path to school.”
Riverview residents learned they had to leave in November 2024, giving them one month’s notice to move.
“It’s a hard decision to make to tell everyone living there that they have to evacuate, especially because a lot of elderly people moved there after retirement,” Lucy said. “It is for everyone’s safety, so it’s a good thing that they got everyone out of the building.”
Eliot Bridge
By the Charles River, MassDOT has been restoring the Eliot Bridge since the fall of 2024 and plans to finish in the spring of 2026. Constructed in 1950, the Eliot Bridge has four travel lanes and two sidewalks for bikers and pedestrians to cross the river from Cambridge to Boston.
Alexis Higgins ’26 rowed under the Eliot Bridge during a Sept. 21 race.
“When I rowed by, it was more cramped than it usually is since the Cambridge shoreside arch was blocked,” she said. “During practices, we usually have to stop and redirect at the bridge. Over the summer, boats crashed into the BB&N dock because of the narrow turn.”
MassDOT is leading the Eliot Bridge preservation.
“The project’s intent was to restore bridge elements to their original condition while making traffic safety improvements where possible,” MassDOT said in a statement. “Repairs include concrete patching, brickwork, granite finishing and structural repairs.”
The construction is currently progressing as scheduled. Two lanes on each side of the bridge are open to passenger vehicles, and one sidewalk across the bridge is always kept open while the other is repaired and widened, MassDOT said.
Construction will be paused during the Oct. 17 to Oct. 19 Head of the Charles crew races underneath the Eliot Bridge. Two of the bridge’s three arches will be open to rowers.
Both the Riverview demolition and Eliot Bridge preservation will continue affecting traffic and pedestrian routes near the US in the coming months.
