Making Transportation Work For Us This Action Area includes both near-term recommendations, including actions to enhance traffic circulation and parking, to improve vehicular access to the Orient Heights T station with less impact on adjacent residential areas, the implementation of the Truck Bypass, and East Boston’s role in the harborwide water transportation system, and the long-range goal of depressing the harbor tunnel portals and ramps to reknit the divided Havre Street neighborhood. 1. Truck Bypass Route/Greenway compatibility Recommendations include: Create truck bypass route from Logan Airport to Chelsea Street Bridge to alleviate truck traffic in and around residential and commercial areas. Design intersections to not conflict with future expansion of the Greenway. Analysis (+) Bypass route would alleviate East Boston streets of truck traffic which congests local commercial centers such as Day Square. (+) The route would consist of an abandoned rail right-of-way in an existing industrial area, thus not impacting residential neighborhoods. (*) Future design of the bypass should be done in conjunction with the expansion of the Greenway, so as to not physically conflict with the future route of the Greenway 2. Harborwide water transportation Recommendations include: Develop East Boston’s role in a Harborwide transit system. Multi-purpose terminals are proposed to be located at Liberty Plaza/Central Square (new), Lewis Mall (existing), and Logan South (expanded). Logan South to serve as the primary site in East Boston owing to the diversity of services using the terminal. Indirect benefits include reduction of through auto and taxi trips. New shuttle services to Downtown, Charlestown, and South Boston hubs potentially like East Boston to other recreational and transit ferry services such as the Harbor Islands Park via Long Wharf and North Station via Pier 4 and Lovejoy Wharf. Commuter shuttle services may be added from Lewis Mall and Liberty Plaza at such time as new residential development combined with existing neighborhood work trips increase substantially over current volumes. At present, demand levels are too low to make such services viable. Intermodal links are needed to the residential neighborhoods and Blue Line by an improved Harborwalk, sidewalk connections, and shuttle buses. Analysis (+) The revitalization of East Boston will depend on improved intermodal public transportation linkages including integral ferry connections. (*) Ferry terminals and water taxi docking facilities are needed at key waterfront locations to serve existing neighborhoods as well as those adjacent to anticipated new residential, commercial and recreational (East Boston Greenway) development. (+) As a community which was once totally dependent on ferry links to downtown Boston and other cross harbor destinations, East Boston can benefit from having expanded and new terminal locations at strategic points. 3. Saratoga Street Improvements Option 1 - Relocate Orient Heights T-station parking lot entrance to a new right-of-way along the Osco Drug Store property. Option 2 - Post "No Left Turn 7-9AM" signs on westbound Saratoga Street at Annavoy Street, Teragram Street, and Shawsheen Road. Feasibility (+) Option 1 would relieve the adjacent residential area of commuters, mostly from Winthrop, by allowing traffic to access the T-station parking lot prior to the residential area. (+) Option 1 could be explored further during the approaching redesign process of the Orient Heights T-station as part of the Blue Line Modernization Program. (+) Option 2 would limit through traffic bypassing Saratoga Street east of Orient Heights Square on Bayswater Street and Goldwater Street, thus mitigating negative impacts during rush hours when vehicles use these residential streets as high-speed shortcuts. 4. Portal Depression Recommendations include: Depress the tunnel portals and ramps, and move the toll plaza further up Route 1A alongside the Bremen Street Park. Rebuild Bremen and Chelsea Streets (now under the highway) and reconnect Paris and Havre Streets. Create a green east-west link from Central Square to Bremen Street Park, the Greenway and the Memorial Stadium Park area. Analysis (*) Several previous plans to accomplish this exist at various stages of concept design. posted 3/19/99 |
