Turnpike Park, the patch of grass nestled between Boston University’s College of Fine Arts and the BU Bridge, was swarmed with people Friday afternoon for the groundbreaking ceremony of phase II of the Commonwealth Avenue Improvement Project.
The $20 million project is said to improve Comm Ave. between the BU Bridge and Packard’s Corner and ease the traffic for the 100,000 people who travel on the street daily, according to a media advisory released by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation before the event.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and BU President Robert Brown, along with other local and state leaders, spoke at the ceremony on the importance of this project and bicycle safety.
MassDOT Highway Division Administrator Thomas Tinlin introduced each speaker and spoke about how this project would help residents of Boston in the future.
About 70 Boston residents, members of activist groups and government officials listened, applauded and laughed with the speakers as they spoke about creating a safer and stronger Boston community.
Baker said that as a previous resident of the area, he has a personal connection to the project.
“I’ve lived in this neighborhood, various parts of it, as a young man for quite a while,” Baker said. “I’m pretty familiar with how busy it is and how many modes of transportation find their way up and down it in the course of a day.”
Walsh, as the next speaker, said that as a major route of Boston residents, Comm Ave. is a landmark of the city and should be safe for the people who use it for transit.
“Commonwealth Avenue is full of students and families,” Walsh said. “It’s home to local businesses, and it’s a gateway boulevard in our city. We’ve seen too many crashes, injuries and deaths in this area and twice as many as the state average.”
The project will continue bringing safe and clean streets to the Boston, Walsh added.
Stephanie Pollack, the secretary and CEO of MassDOT, said this project has been a joint effort between multiple organizations, and it couldn’t be complete without that teamwork.
“It is a project that a lot of people put a lot of thought, work, advocacy and engineering into,” Pollock said. “It is a perfect example of what can happen when the government, community, institutions and the people actually roll up their sleeves and come up with a better outcome.”
Brown said Comm Ave. is essentially BU’s campus, and he is excited that all of the BU community will be able to take advantage of the improvements.
“We’re a university that thrives only when the city around us thrives,” Brown said. “This is a major part of our campus, and we as a university will invest in about a billion dollars into this side of campus. This project will mean a tremendous amount to our students, faculty and staff as they commute up and down Commonwealth Avenue.”
Several community leaders who attended the ceremony said they are looking forward to how the project will improve Comm Ave. and its surrounding areas.
Jenn Blazejewski, a board member of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, said this project is only bringing better things to Boston.
“Every improvement that we make to this city and that helps infrastructure and makes is safer, it improves it for drivers, cyclists and walkers,” Blazejewski said before the event. “Protected bike lanes are key because we’ve had so many tragic events since it’s really hard to be safe when we’re trying to share space.”
Lisa Tornatore, the assistant director of sustainability@BU, said after the event that this project is impressive because of the cooperation between so many different organizations.
“What’s exciting to me is that this really is a collaborative effort between Boston University and the City of Boston but also the state,” Tornatore said. “All of our community partners have been working to make Commonwealth Avenue and all of our Boston streets safer for all modes of transportation.”
George Boag, president of the union that covers clerical, technical and research employees at BU, said the project will improve the safety standards for anyone commuting on Comm Ave.
“It’s not often that you get the governor and the mayor and the president of BU at the same place,” Boag said after the event. “It’s an important project for BU going forward and for the city. This is a rough stretch of road. It’ll be good for everybody involved, including students, staff and the general public.”
