Fall 2024 Event Spotlight: Allston Multimodal Project and Reknitting the Allston Community
On October 2nd, the Boston University Initiative on Cities and City Planning and Urban Affairs Program hosted a wide-ranging discussion on the Allston Multimodal Project – a Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) initiative seeking to realign the Massachusetts Turnpike at the Allston Interchange.
BU School of Law Lecturer Rob DiAdamo moderated the conversation with speakers Fred Salvucci and Jim Aloisi. Salvucci is an experienced civil engineer who served as Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation under Governor Michael Dukakis. In his tenure at MassDOT, Salvucci oversaw the Big Dig and other major transit projects like the Red Line extension and the Orange Line’s relocation. Jim Aloisi also served as Secretary of Transportation in the administration of Governor Deval Patrick. Trained as a lawyer, Aloisi is a prolific writer who has authored multiple books and regularly contributed to Commonwealth Magazine. Both Salvucci and Aloisi are currently lecturers at MIT.
Earlier this year, the Healey-Driscoll Administration announced that the Allston Multimodal Project would receive $335.4 Million in federal funds made available by the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Salvucci is hopeful that the nature of this funding source will ensure that MassDOT will deliver on the project’s overarching goal. Aloisi further explained that the new infrastructure law and Reconnecting Communities Pilot Grant Program are now funding the project and are focused on remedying harm done to communities separated and demolished by highways in the 1960s. He was keen on emphasizing the enormity of this project and its intent. In his lifetime, major highway viaducts have only been torn down by “acts of god” and “acts of Fred” (referencing Salvucci’s role in moving the Central Artery underground).
The Allston Multimodal Project presents a rare opportunity to restore split communities, increase transit usage and connectivity, build affordable housing, and design a new regional crossroad. With such potential and excitement, Salvucci and Aloisi encourage civil engineers to listen and plan. Realigning the Turnpike with development in mind will lay the groundwork for many projects, lowering costs and maximizing benefits for all. Salvucci and Aloisi point to the Prudential Center as an example of what could be. Once an uninteresting and avoided area of the city, the commitment to a broader vision anchored in developing air rights transformed an entire neighborhood drastically. The area made available after the realignment is even larger than the site of the Prudential Center. To Salvucci and Aloisi, the conditions are right to see ambition development at this scale again.
Salvucci and Aloisi are imploring MassDOT and other stakeholders to move forward quickly. Their eagerness to see the project break ground is based on more than an excitement for a long-awaited transit hub. After decades in public planning, Salvucci surmised that “time is no one’s friend.” Shifting political winds, funding streams, and power heavily influence project planning and implementation. If planners lack urgency, existing barriers to realizing a project’s vision only grow. Salvucci and Aloisi directly addressed common narratives about the project review process to demonstrate that moving forward quickly is possible and necessary. While the Big Dig is notorious for its high cost and delay, Salvucci described it as an agile and efficient planning process. New information about how proposed tunnels would be built presented major changes to the project as planned, yet Salvucci and his team swiftly adjusted to the new parameters and took the proposal from draft to a completed environmental report in only nine months. Challenging planners’ scapegoating, he said the environmental review process “takes ten years because someone wants it to take ten years,” namely to minimize project investments. Aloisi concurred, telling the audience that if a planner is serious about a project, they should be able to produce a GANTT chart outlining the proposed timeline. Allston, Salvucci, and Aloisi believe federal funding and oversight will help mediate these challenges.
Urban planners in Boston are working throughout the region to move more people with fewer vehicles. Often limited by existing infrastructure, limited funding and support, and other complicating factors, the Allston Multimodal Project is an exciting project that many hope will equitably renew a community and serve as an example for returning Boston to its residents.