Boston land and transit planning group calls for at-grade Mass Pike rerouting and upgrade
Doug Pizzi | October 14, 2020
The Trustees Collaborative for Parks and Open Space (Collaborative), one of several advocacy groups long involved in the rerouting and rebuilding of the Massachusetts Turnpike and adjacent transportation infrastructure along the Charles River, is making a case for an at-grade solution for the project.
The Collaborative, part of a task force that has been reviewing and commenting on the project for several years, is an, “…ad hoc group of open space and parks advocates, leaders and donors…” Members meet quarterly to discuss and weigh in on issues of great importance to Boston, which this project certainly is. They represent themselves within the Collaborative structure, not the organizations to which they belong.
The project will straighten and replace decrepit, failing infrastructure plaguing all three roads, and in particular the raised portion of the Mass Pike, where the columns that support the highway show rebar exposed to the elements. It will also open up Harvard University’s parcels in Allston, including the former CSX rail yard, so Harvard can relocate its business school and attendant facilities there.
Plans call for rebuilding the Turnpike, Soldiers Field Road and Storrow Drive where these roads run between the Charles River and Boston University, aka “the throat.” The billion-dollar project also presents the opportunity to improve commuter rail infrastructure and service while expanding parkland, including pedestrian and bike paths. Taken together, the Collaborative says its plan would create, “…a comprehensive multi-modal network,” without which Massachusetts will never achieve legislatively mandated CO2 reductions contained in the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act. The act requires the state to reduce 1990 CO2 emissions by 100 percent no later than 2050.
This is an opportunity to revitalize and expand DCR parkland along the river, and truly connect nearby neighborhoods to the river, both visually and physically.
– Doug Pizzi, MCV Executive Director
To meet the emissions goal, the Collaborative wants to reduce, not increase, the total number of lanes on these roadways to lower the number of cars entering Boston from the west. This can be accomplished by transforming Soldiers Field Road and Storrow Drive from highway configurations to surface boulevards by eliminating turning and other extraneous lanes. Reducing internal combustion vehicle traffic, the state’s major source of CO2 emissions, is the only way to comply with our self-imposed emissions goals, Collaborative members maintain.
In addition to reduced emissions benefits, Massachusetts Conservation Voters (MCV) points out that an at-grade, reduced traffic solution also presents an opportunity to revitalize and expand the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) parkland along the river, and truly connect nearby neighborhoods to the river, both visually and physically. The physical connections will require appropriately spaced pedestrian and/or bicycle bridges or underpasses across the roads. These structures should be part of the project moving forward.
Many Task Force members and Allston residents have been calling for an at-grade solution, rather than rebuilding the viaduct that now carries the Mass Pike, or placing the Mass Pike at grade and elevating Soldiers Field Road, two options currently being considered. Most recently, Boston University said it would donate a narrow strip of land to improve planners’ ability to fit all of the infrastructure at ground level. CommonWealth Magazine recently reported that concerns within state government over impacts an at-grade plan could have on the Charles River appear to have been settled. MCV, for its part, stands with the Charles River Watershed Association in favoring an at-grade plan, while opposing any intrusion into the river for roadway construction, even temporarily, which in the case of this project has been defined as eight to 10 years.
The Collaborative sent a September 24th letter to Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack and Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen A. Theoharides detailing why an at-grade plan should be the primary option. Theoharides had previously indicated that any intrusion into the river would be a huge obstacle to permitting. Pollack had indicated a reluctance to consider an at-grade solution, but now appears poised to include one in the three final design plans the state will consider, which needs federal approval as well. The letter, signed by 32 people, also went to Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Senate President Karen Spilka, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and the state’s congressional delegation.
MCV supports an at-grade plan that would not change the ecology of the Charles River, that would expand and improve open space along the river.
In addition to reducing traffic on Soldiers Field Road and Storrow Drive, the Collaborative is pushing another major provision within the at-grade solution, the Boston-side construction of The Grand Junction, a two-track commuter rail spur that would run from the new West Station commuter rail stop in Allston to the BU Bridge, and ultimately across the river to the Kendall Square biotech hub.
Collaborative member and transportation entrepreneur Robin Chase, a founder and former CEO of Zipcar, said the Collaborative’s at-grade solution gives planners the most options to move people in and out of the city while also reducing CO2 in line with legislated commitments. Chase said inclusion of the commuter rail spur from West Station to the BU Bridge must be done in conjunction with this project or it will never be done.
“Massachusetts has not had any reduction of transportation related CO2 emissions since 1990,” Chase said. “A viaduct solution locks in increases in car traffic for the next 50 to 100 years.”
MCV supports an at-grade plan that would not change the ecology of the Charles River, that would expand and improve open space along the river while eliminating the viaduct between the BU campus and adjacent neighborhoods and the river. Massachusetts has a once in a lifetime opportunity to expand historic DCR holdings along the Charles by emphasizing people over cars. We hope you will join us in advocating for the undeniable opportunities an at-grade plan offers and make your voices heard in state government with elected and appointed officials.
The increased open space created by removing the antiquated Central Artery has greatly benefited Boston residents, visitors and businesses on both sides of the Rose Kennedy Greenway while connecting neighborhoods. We are not suggesting submerging roadways as we did with the Big Dig. But let’s not use this project to replace one eyesore with another while sabotaging our legally mandated climate change commitments and simultaneously walk away from an opportunity to expand and improve DCR parkland. Please let your elected and appointed representatives know your desire to see this project knit together portions of the city, not keep them divided.
Doug Pizzi is the executive director of Massachusetts Conservation Voters