MassDOT Airs Options for Obsolete Memorial Drive Highway Interchange in Cambridge

On Tuesday evening, MassDOT hosted a virtual public hearing on its plans to remove the William Reid Overpass, a crumbling highway viaduct in Cambridge that flies over the traffic circle on the northern end of the Boston University Bridge.

Still unresolved, however, is the question of what should replace it. One option would be to build another viaduct, in order to continue subsidizing high-speed car traffic along Cambridge’s riverfront. Another option under consideration would re-route traffic into a slower, safer at-grade intersection that could increase public greenspace along the Charles River.

The decision will involve a crowded field of bureaucracies. The City of Cambridge controls the local streets that connect to Memorial Drive, but Memorial Drive itself is controlled by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and the land underneath its asphalt is technically public parkland.

But the bridges and overpasses along many DCR roadways are the responsibility of MassDOT, the agency hosting Tuesday’s meeting (there are actually two bridges involved in the project: the Reid Overpass over the traffic circle, and a smaller Memorial Drive bridge over the Grand Junction railroad tracks, a few yards east of the rotary).

The DCR is currently rebuilding a nearby segment of Memorial Drive that will narrow the roadway from four lanes to two in an effort to improve safety and increase greenspace on the Cambridge riverfront.

DCR also renovated and expanded the Paul Dudley White shared-use paths around the southern edge of the B.U. rotary this summer after a driver veered off Memorial Drive and killed John Corcoran last fall.

Tuesday’s public hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. Find details and a registration link here.

This story will be updated.