Build a better city, starting with the Allston interchange
By Robin Chase and Doug Foy, Updated February 18, 2020, 3:00 a.m.
It’ll take a decade to fix some of Boston’s old highways. Let’s use that time to create a neighborhood truly suited for the 21st century.
Boston has the opportunity to reclaim 30 acres of prime Charles River waterfront real estate, directly across from Cambridge. But somehow, the front-running proposal is to rebuild and expand 20th-century priorities — highways — with a 1950s vision of what makes for a good city (a car in every garage).
We’re talking about the I-90 Allston interchange. You’ve definitely driven through it: acres of industrial detritus and 12 lanes of highway (eight elevated lanes of I-90 and four lanes of Soldiers Field road), spreading noise and pollution and increasing stress levels. Tens of thousands of Bostonians who live and work adjacent to these highways are cut off from one of Boston’s finest assets — the Charles River waterfront.
It is time to envision the Allston Interchange...