As state officials continue to struggle to overcome major financing shortfalls and design conflicts in MassDOT's proposed Interstate 90 realignment in Allston, state highway officials have floated a proposal to spend the majority of the project's committed federal funding on a dramatically-scaled back "early action" project that would be limited to the area around the Cambridge Street bridge in Allston.
Under MassDOT's proposal, the agency would set aside $250 million for a suite of projects around the Cambridge Street overpass bridge, including:
- An accessible, "complete streets" replacement of the Cambridge Street bridge
- Modifications to the I-90 highway and Worcester Line tracks to allow for less steep, wheelchair-accessible grades on the new Cambridge Street bridge
- Replacement and realignment of the Franklin Street footbridge with a wider, wheelchair-accessible design
- A wheelchair-accessible reconstruction of the Lincoln Street ramp between Lincoln and Cambridge Streets on the north side of I-90
- Construction of a new highway noise barrier along Lincoln Street
- Utility relocations and earthwork
Earlier this year, MassDOT won a $335 million "reconnecting communities" grant with a grant proposal that promised the Allston I-90 realignment would reconnect parts of Allston and Brighton that were cut in half by the 1960s construction of Interstate 90.
But during Thursday's MPO meeting, MassDOT officials acknowledged that they still need to overcome major uncertainties associated with the financing and design of their Allston I-90 interchange replacement project.
MassDOT project manager Susan Harrington told members of the MPO board that the agency's deadline for spending its "reconnecting communities" funding is coming up fast, in late 2026.
A phased approach to the project, said Harrington, would offer "a way to obligate these funds and continue advancing the rest of the project."
City of Boston planner Jen Rowe, one of two City of Boston representatives on the MPO's board of directors, endorsed the phased approach during Thursday's meeting.
Rowe observed that the proposed early-action projects respond to the intent of the reconnecting communities grant by improving connections across the Turnpike, and that they also have "broad conceptual support from stakeholders."
Furthermore, she added, "the shape the overall project takes will not be prematurely constrained by advancing them now."
MassDOT is proposing to fund the "early action" project with $200 million out of the available $335 million from its reconnecting communities grant, plus an additional $50 million from MassDOT's state funds.
That financing plan would leave just $135 million in available federal funds for the remainder of the multi-billion dollar Allston I-90 project.
MassDOT officials at Thursday's meeting also confirmed that the entire project's $2 billion dollar cost estimate, a figure that dates to early 2022, has not been updated to account for a 25 percent increase in national highway construction costs over the past two and a half years.
The board of the Boston Region MPO, which must approve all federal transportation spending for the region, entertained a motion to introduce MassDOT's proposal, then tabled further discussion on the idea until its next meeting on December 19th so that it can take time to solicit additional feedback on the proposal from stakeholders and the public.
