Massachusetts officials are considering a new Massachusetts Turnpike reconstruction plan that would elevate the bike and pedestrian path along the Charles River. This alternative solution to the over $1 billion remodel could be a compromise between the current two proposed ideas: replacing and elevating the current path or moving the highway to ground level.
A Better City, a nonprofit that aims to improve Boston’s economics and sustainability, proposed the plan to elevate the current path above Soldiers Field Road and eliminate the current viaduct. Tom Nally, planning director of A Better City, said this reconstruction plan will enable an elevated bicycle and pedestrian path to coexist safely.
“The key issue is whether or not you can have a separate bicycle path and a pedestrian path of adequate widths … and if it’s safe for both modes to work at the same time,” Nally said. “And in order to do that … it’s necessary to have a wider path that is up in the air over [Soldier’s Field Road].”
The plan has numerous benefits, Nally said, namely providing the opportunity for a level connection between the southern and northern ends of Boston.
“Those are huge benefits for the neighborhood and also providing an opportunity to reduce the impact of the transportation facilities by putting in a buffer between the residential area and the highway,” Nally said, “and providing opportunities to put some future beneficial developments.”
The solution would also come at a lower cost, he explained, which would allow possible reallocation of available resources to other urban development sites that citizens would like to see. Nally said he believes this plan would also reduce the impact on traffic and have a shorter construction period.
Victoria Mier, a Massachusetts Department of Transportation communications assistant, wrote in an email that an independent review team is beginning to explore the benefits and disadvantages of the plan to eliminate the current viaduct and elevate the bike and pedestrian paths. A plan will then be selected out of the several solutions proposed at public meetings, she explained.
“The Commonwealth of Massachusetts will make a decision, scheduled to be made in November, on which of the several design options mentioned at public meetings will be the preferred design option,” Mier wrote. “After a comprehensive permitting and stakeholder process, the design will move forward.”
After a build team is selected to carry out the project, Nally said the first phase of work should be completed by around 2025.
Althea Bock-Hughes, 25, of Allston, said an elevated pedestrian and bike path could be beneficial to the community and improve safety.
“I do think there could be safer bike areas because I have never felt comfortable biking here because I think it’s too dangerous,” Bock-Hughes said.
In addition to voicing her support for the plan, Bock-Hughes said she hopes the project is handled correctly.
“I feel like there’s always something wrong with any kind of one of these projects, where the City is misplacing funds or displacing people in the name of beautifying,” she said.
Having made use of special bike and pedestrian paths himself, Michael Lipari, 24, of Brighton, said he supports the plan to create the separate elevated paths.
“I’m [all] about the access to different sights Boston has to offer, whether it’s by car or by foot or bike,” Lipari said. “I’m all for bike paths. I’m an avid skateboarder, and I would love to have a more safe area on which to do that.”
Lipari also said he supports the idea to add more vegetation and planting to the path.
“There should always be more green in these cities,” Lipari said, “that seem to be dealing more with urbanization and less with environmentalism.”
Please provide a visual plan of the proposal.