Charles River Parklands and Parkways Commission Bill H.2029 Moves Forward

The Charles River Parkways and Parklands Commission, an initiative of the Conservancy, moved a step closer to realization on October 18th, when the Bill H.2029, sponsored by Representatives Marty Walz (Boston and Cambridge) and Jonathan Hecht (Watertown) reported out favorably from the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture.  This bill covers the area from the Boston Harbor to the Watertown Dam and grew out of the "Post-Big Dig" vision of a bigger and better riverfront parklands, which was presented by former Transportation Secretary Fred Salvucci at CRC's 10th Anniversary event in 2010.

The Commission will bring together elected officials, municipal agencies, advocacy groups, and park and transportation professionals to enhance the parklands, calm and reduce traffic on adjacent parkways, and increase use by non-vehicular users.  The Commission will be staffed, in part, by the Conservancy in collaboration with the DCR and MassDOT.  Stay tuned for more information about the status of the Parkways and Parklands Commission bill as it moves toward a vote by the house and senate.

Anderson Bridge - En-visioning an Underpass, by David Smith

MassDOT Board Briefed on Underpasses

At the invitation of the MassDOT board, the Charles River Conservancy briefed the board on October 5th about adding underpasses at the Anderson, Western Avenue, and River Street Bridges as part of the Charles River Basin Accelerated Bridge Program. 

While safety for non-vehicular users is a major concern, CRC also emphasized how the underpasses will support MassDOT's own Healthy Transportation Compact, which promotes opportunities for non-motorized transport to realize environmental and public benefits.  CRC suggested combining the three bridge rehabilitation projects into a single design-build contract.  Using the recent success of the design-build approach to the 14 bridges north of Boston along Route 93 as a model, this change in the contracting process could save permitting and construction time, save money, and more effectively synchronize traffic during the construction period.  Park of the scope of the design build project would be the inclusion of underpasses as a design alternative. 

29 elected officials and 32 community groups are among those in support of this once in a lifetime opportunity to strengthen the connectivity of the parklands.  Although deadlines for the bridge rehabilitation projects are tight, CRC continues to push MassDOT for creative strategies to include underpasses now or facilitate their construction in the future.  For all other information on our underpass advocacy efforts, click here. 

Click here to support the underpasses: Anderson, River Street and Western Avenue bridges. 

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