Large portion of Elm Street in Davis Square shut down to pedestrian and auto traffic

[keithn.livejournal.com]

From Somerville's facebook page:

Effective immediately, as a precautionary measure, due to structural work occurring on the façade of the building at 240 Elm St., Elm St. between Dover St. and Russell St. will be closed to all cars, and there will be no access for pedestrians between Chester St. and Grove St. until further notice. Detours in this area will direct traffic right onto Dover St., left onto Orchard St., and left onto Russell St. back to Elm St., however we advise all commuters through this area to seek alternate routes until further notice.

Somerville Police will be stationed in this area to assist with detours. Updates will be provided as they are available this evening.

According to one Twitter user, some scaffolding on the side of the Social Security building has collapsed.

Comments

due to work in the building

[ravingwanderer.livejournal.com]

According to someone at the scene, construction workers inside the building removed some sort of load-bearing beam, and there was a partial collapse that has affected part of the facade.

RE: due to work in the building

[keithn.livejournal.com]

Here's an article:

http://somerville.wickedlocal.com/article/20150622/NEWS/150629129

It doesn't sound like anything has collapsed, yet. But they sure are worried.

[ron_newman]

What I saw a few minutes ago:

Both sidewalks of Elm Street, as well as the roadway, are completely closed and blocked off between Chester Street and Grove Street/Bowers Ave. Ditto for Chester Street between Redbones and Elm Street.

On the north side of Elm, the Burren is open, including its patio, but every business beyond it, up to and including Christo's Pizza, is closed. This includes Family Dollar, Meju, Julie's Nails, McKinnon's, Sligo Pub, Kung Fu Tea, and Martsa on Elm.

On the south side of Elm, every business from Dunkin Donuts up to and including iYO is closed. This includes Punjabi Grill, Anna's Tacqueria, and Buffalo Exchange. The entrance to Goodwill is still open, so perhaps that store will be open tomorrow. Amsterdam Falafelshop is not within the closed area, but it closed anyway.

Redbones is open, but hard to reach.