A Tree Grows In ​“A Concrete World”

New life took root in a bleak concrete canyon off of State Street, where a young cherry tree is a pioneer in the conversion of a gray corridor into a leafy pedestrian walkway.

For years neighbors have complained that the Humphrey Street highway underpass off of State Street is a dark and unappealing stretch of asphalt and cement, one that artificially divides the Jocelyn Square and Upper State Street neighborhoods.

Ben Berkowitz, head of the Upper State Street Association, teamed up with the Urban Resources Initiative (URI) to petition the state Department of Transportation to allow for trees to be planted in and around the underpass. Chris Ozyck of URI drew up an eight-tree planting plan, which Berkowitz pitched to DOT. With cooperation from the city, which has agreed to be the permit holder for the project, the DOT approved the plan.

Last week, neighborhood volunteers planted a cherry at the east end of the underpass. This Tuesday they placed another cherry in the middle of the overpass in a gap between overpassing highway lanes. Further trees will be planted on upcoming Tuesday afternoons.

Emma Richards, a community manager at SeeClickFix (a company Ben Berkowitz founded), showed up to help out on Tuesday. After donning blue work gloves and a neon green vest, she said she hopes the trees will help soften the boundary between the two neighborhoods and make the walkway more inviting.

“It’s such a dividing line,” said Richards, who lives on Whitney Avenue.

“Who wants to walk through here right now?” said David Streever, who also donned a green vest to help out. He said new trees will make a statement about the area. Improved lighting and maybe some murals on the blank gray walls would be even better, he said.

“I think it’s amazing,” volunteer Danyel Aversenti said of the effort to bring trees to the underpass. ​“It’s giving life back to what’s a concrete world.”

Richards and Streever (pictured) helped out by first moving chunks of concrete that had been removed from the sidewalk.

The city Department of Public Works has cut through the sidewalk in areas where the trees are to be planted, leaving squares of concrete for volunteers to remove.

Streever and Richards then used picks to break up the packed gravel underneath the sidewalk …

… which URI’s Tim Eakins (at left in photo) shoveled into a wheelbarrow that was emptied into a trailer.

Meanwhile, more volunteers filtered in. Adenike Adeyeye, supervising the operation for URI, set them to work shoveling compost off of another tree site.

East Rockers Aversenti (left) and Jessica Holmes (right), a Ward 9 aldermanic candidate, worked pry-bars to lever out sections of the sidewalk.

Meanwhile, Richards and Adeyeye wrangled the heavy young cherry tree off a nearby truck.

They wheeled it towards the site as the sinking sun filtered down through the highway.

Volunteers labored on as the sun set.

The next day, a morning thunderstorm watered a newly planted cherry tree, which stood as a spot of green in the middle of a barren stretch of concrete.