‘Transformational project’: State gets $335M from feds to rebuild part of Mass. Pike in Boston

BOSTON — A “deficient” stretch of the Massachusetts Turnpike that runs through Boston will undergo a major facelift after state and local officials were able to secure $335 million in federal funding for the “transformational project.”

United States Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and the Massachusetts congressional delegation announced Monday that the funding will be put toward the $2 billion “Allston Multimodal Project.”

“This is another major win for Massachusetts. The Allston Multimodal Project is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve transportation infrastructure in the Allston community and better connect residents across the state with housing and job opportunities,” Gov. Healey said in a statement.

Allston’s I-90 project will accomplish the following, according to state leaders:

• Transform the Allston neighborhood of Boston by rebuilding a deficient section of Interstate 90 to open up new land for development, increase access to multimodal transit, and reconnect the neighborhood with open space along the Charles River waterfront
• Support the city’s efforts to connect communities separated by Interstate 90 and advance environmental justice (EJ) in these neighborhoods
• Create space for the construction of West Station which would connect commuter rail, bus, shuttles, and bike share opportunities, and greatly enhance transportation access for EJ communities. The station will support four tracks and three platforms for the MBTA commuter rail with opportunities for future rail service to Cambridge, and support for improved West-East rail connections
• Provide a unique opportunity for equitable economic and workforce development through the creation of 3,800 new construction jobs, and the economic growth it enables is projected to create 12,400 permanent jobs from new residential, institutional, and commercial development with significant opportunity for new affordable housing and civic spaces

“Families in Boston, especially those who are disadvantaged, deserve this funding to connect their communities with public transit and new bike lanes, to open more public spaces for our kids to play outside, and to create thousands of good, new jobs,” Warren said in a statement.

Mayor Wu said of the project, “The City of Boston is grateful to our federal delegation and MassDOT for their support in moving this transformational project forward. The Allston Multimodal Project will improve public transit, expand parkland, reconnect residents to beautiful open space along the Charles River, create new opportunities for housing and jobs, and bring much-needed fixes for crumbling infrastructure.”

Markey, who advocated to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on behalf of this project added, “We’re healing the scars of antiquated highway projects that ripped apart Black, brown, and low-income communities.”

The Allston viaduct, which carries the Massachusetts Turnpike from the Allston Interchange to the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, is nearing the end of its useful lifespan and must be replaced, according to MassDOT.

Improvement to Interstate 90 as part of this project will ensure its efficient operation, MassDOT said.

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