Winter in Massachusetts means snow and ice and slush. Above all, it means salt — untold tons of the stuff, piled high in the backs of trucks, and then scattered on roads throughout the state. A good portion of this salt comes to Massachusetts from overseas, by way of a dock along the Chelsea Creek. The barges that pull up to the salt dock keep cars on the roads, rather than piled up on the guardrails. They also keep Chelsea residents walled off from their waterfront.

Now, however, that’s changing. For the first time, Chelsea is breaking through the heavy industry piled up along the Chelsea Creek, and reconnecting with its waterfront. This is the same sort of reclamation project that’s underway, with more fanfare, across the harbor in Boston. There’s one major difference between the two: Boston is seeing a boom in real estate that industry left behind, while Chelsea is bringing its citizens to the waterfront by growing industry.