Central Artery Boston Transportation Planning Review Overview: This report presents the earliest formal consideration of a depressed Central Artery. The "depressed" roadway it contemplates is not a tunnel, like the road now under construction, but an open cut, bridged in places and covered in others with air-rights development or partly by surface road, at the edges. The report gives a rationale for sinking the highway. INTRODUCTION This report has been prepared by the Boston Transportation Planning Review as a technical supplement to information presented in the Harbor Crossing Draft Environmental Impact Statement issued in September. It describes and evaluates one short-term and three long-term improvement alternatives for the Central Artery designed to complement alternative Harbor Crossing program packages. The limits of the project area included in this report are the Central Artery (John F. Fitzgerald Expressway) from the Southeast Expressway at Massachusetts Avenue to the Causeway Street/North Terminal area. Connections to the Southeast Expressway and to highway alternatives in the Southwest Corridor are shown in the Harbor Crossing and Southwest Corridor Reports. A description of the connections to various North Terminal schemes under study is included for information in this report. The North Terminal Study is not a part of the BTPR mandate. The short-term Central Artery improvement program described in this report identifies immediate actions required before 1980 to cope with increasing congestion and harbor crossing demands regardless of any decision with respect to major new facility construction. The two long-term alternatives describe two programs of improvements for the 1980-1995 period, ranging from ramp revisions and safety improvements to widening and completely depressing the Central Artery through the downtown Boston core. The construction of a rail connection between North and South Stations is also discussed as a component opportunity of the depressed artery scheme. The major elements of each improvement alternative may he summarized as follows: Short-term Improvements -- Stop-gap improvement required before 1980 to improve downtown surface circulation and to implement an express bus limousine service to the airport. Exclusive bus lanes would be constructed to the Callahan Tunnel northbound from the southeast Expressway and the Massachusetts Turnpike and southbound from Route 1-93 and the North Terminal area. Alternative A: viaduct Improvements -- long-term improvements to the existing viaduct, including the deletion of four existing ramps, construction of one new ramp and modification of three others. These improvements would facilitate core-bound and through traffic movements on the existing artery and would be coupled with a new two-way surface spine from Atlantic Avenue to North Washington street to facilitate surface movements. Alternative B: Widen and Depress the Artery -- The existing viaduct would he removed from Congress street to North Washington street and replaced with a depressed 8-lane facility to provide increased capacity and service for core-bound and through traffic movements; southbound traffic would use the existing tunnel south of Congress street; northbound traffic would use a new right-of-way constructed along the west side of the Fort point Channel. Local movements would be handled with a new surface street constructed over the depressed section. Construction of a new depressed rail connection between North and south stations is an option with this alternative. … Alternative B: Depress and Widen The long-term depress and widen alternative would demolish the existing viaduct and reconstruct the artery below ground from Congress street to the Sumner/Callahan tunnel portals. A new surface street would be constructed over the depressed highway to service local traffic. The major objectives of this alternative would be to increase the core-bound and through traffic capacity of the artery, to improve connections to the Sumner/Callahan Tunnels, to improve safety, and to reduce congestion due to bottlenecks on local service ramps providing access to the core and the airport. The exclusive bus lanes to the Callahan tunnel described in the short-term program would be maintained over the new surface street system unless a new bus tunnel or a new expressway harbor crossing is selected for construction. Should this happen, the exclusive bus lanes to the Callahan tunnel could be converted to general purpose use. The elements of this alternative ate shown in Figure 14 and may be summarized as follows: Maintain exclusive lanes for express bus/limousine service on the new surface street over the artery or by widening the northbound roadway to permit its inclusion below ground. Rebuild the improved surface street over the new depressed artery to service local traffic. Increase the capacity of the artery from 3 to 4 through traffic lanes in each direction by providing a new depressed 4-lane roadway for northbound traffic along Fort Point channel and using the existing South Station tunnel for southbound traffic only. Revise movements at the Sumner/Callahan tunnel portals to eliminate conflicts and reduce congestion. Specific improvements include: - provide new direct connections for Sumner Tunnel traffic going south and to Government Center - provide improved geometrics and eliminate weave and merge constraints on other off- and on-movements to and from the tunnel portals Modify Cross Street to eliminate its use for other than tunnel-to--local and local service Revise or modify other local on- and off-rasp connections to the artery to eliminate weave and merge conditions. Specific improvements include - provide a mew off-ramp under the approaches to Sumner/Callahan tunnels to serve northbound Government Center local traffic - improve Government Center southbound on-movements by construction of a new access ramp - eliminate existing northbound ramps along Atlantic Avenue between Congress Street and High Street and replace them with new ramps at Northern Avenue - replace the High Street Southbound off-ramp with a new ramp at the same location with improved deceleration characteristics - replace the existing Purchase Street southbound on-ramp with a new ramp at India Street to eliminate the existing short weaving distance between this ramp and the Dewey Square off-ramp. A new depressed rail connection between North and South Stations is an optional addition to this alternative. An engineering description and analysis of the transit ridership implications of this proposal are included in Chapter E. … ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES OF A DEPRESSED HIGHWAY The interaction among the principal functional areas in the central area of Boston has contributed significantly over the years to the economic vitality and character that makes Boston a desirable place to live. Continued public and private planning and development efforts directed at optimizing this interaction is essential to provide market supports for new land uses and to sustain the tax base of the city. Creative redevelopment of Boston's waterfront, one of its most underutilized resources, offers a significant opportunity to sustain and stimulate the city's economic vitality. The city has recognized this and is proceeding through its Redevelopment Authority to implement the Downtown Waterfront/Faneuil Hall Project, a combination rehab-new construction mixed-use residential, commercial, tourist-oriented, commercial, office and related use plan. One of the most important non-transportation benefits of depressing the Central Artery is its potential for influencing land use patterns, and specifically for enhancing the waterfront plan. Specifically, removal of the artery would have the following beneficial effects which are discussed in this section. Enhancing the visual environment for residential uses Improving interaction among visitor attractions Reinforcing and redirecting the financial district development Creating and/or improving specific parcels Enhancing land values Enhancing Visual Environment for Residential Uses Rehabilitation and construction of new middle income and luxury housing for Boston's waterfront area is an important component of the Downtown Waterfront Renewal Plan in that it provides economic support and buying power for other uses, especially retail. Many of the housing sites offer beautiful vistas, waterfront orientation and other features that tend to offset the less desirable aspects of the central area environment. To the extent that one environmentally blighting influence is removed, desirability of the area for residential uses would he enhanced. This in turn would improve either initial marketability and/or continued occupancy and viability of these uses depending on the timing of the construction. The existing viaduct creates a visual and psychological barrier; its dark spaces underneath create real or perceived problems of security which would be alleviated by depressing the artery. Depressing the facility could have a tendency to make some additional sites away from the Waterfront toward downtown more suitable for housing development because of the reduced noise and visual pollution. This is particularly true in the vicinity of Mercantile Street in the North End where rehabilitation and conversion of old warehouse buildings is taking place along with new construction. Construction of a new Northbound leg for the Central Artery in a depressed attitude could create some new residential site potentials in surface or air rights in the area between Harbor Towers and the U.S. Appraisers Building -- taking advantage of the waterfront amenities. This, in turn, would tend to reinforce the proposed mixed use-housing proposals for the waterfront area in South Boston along the east side of the Fort Point Channel. In general, with regard to improving residential potential in the Central Area, it is desirable to encourage development west of Fort Point Channel first to facilitate the economic reinforcement of existing functions and to accelerate additional residential uses proposed in the Waterfront Renewal and Fort Point Channel plans. Improving Interaction Among Visitor Attractions A significant benefit of a depressed Central Artery is the potential for optimizing interaction of visitors among the numerous visitor attractions such as Faneuil Hall, the proposed New Market Street market, the Waterfront Visitor Center complex and the North End shopping district. Obviously the ease of pedestrian and vehicular movement among these areas enhances exposure to the visitor and increases expenditure potential representing sales, income and tax revenue to the operators and city. Such benefits would extend from such Visitor-oriented activity operations as hotels, restaurants and gift shops to bonus patronage for grocery, apparel and other outlets which derive most of their business from the resident population. Reconstruction of the Central Artery as a depressed facility would be especially beneficial in removing the visual and psychological barrier of the existing viaduct and thus help implement the city's Walk to the Sea. As indicated above this planning concept has considerable economic merit in that anything that helps invite visitors to the Waterfront-Market area, either from downtown employees, elsewhere in the metropolitan area, or out of the area is in the long run beneficial to the economy. Reinforcing and Redirecting the Financial District Development The decade of the l960's saw the construction of over 11,000,000 gross square feet of office space in the Central Business District, reflecting the major shift towards a services economy in Boston. Although projects vary, estimates are that an average of approximately 800,000 to 1,500,000 gross square feet of new space will be added each year in the 1970's. Although somewhat dispersed, most of the new private office buildings have developed around Prudential Center, Government Center or the Financial District generally south of Franklin Street and west of Oliver Street. More recently the direction of this office construction and proposed development has shifted toward South Station. An estimated 5,000,000 square feet of new construction has been proposed in the vicinity of South Station, which is to be redeveloped as a comprehensive multi-purpose transportation facility, with office and commercial uses. A key parcel between Congress, Summer, Dorchester Avenue and the Central Artery has been cleared and readied for construction for the Federal Reserve Bank. It is interesting to note that the Central Artery is depressed presently in the vicinity of South Station. A number of factors may have influenced the development surge at this location, including the existing transportation access by train, bus, rapid transit, and automobile, favorable land values and land availability, etc. However, it is clear that the absence of an expressway barrier provides between linkages to the central portion of the Financial District and hence adds to the locational merits of this area Depression of the Central Artery north of Congress Street where it now rises out of tunnel would have similar effects on properties north and east of Congress Street. The Financial District could logically extend through some of the "soft" areas to meet new development extending hack from the Waterfront toward the core. In general it is beneficial to the city to encourage concentration and staged extension of development towards activity centers on the waterfront to reinforce inter-city linkages. This strategy is especially desirable from the standpoint of maintaining the viability of Central Business District retailing which derives trade from office workers, visitors and others in addition to the resident population. Creating or Improving Specific parcels The joint development schemes described in Chapter D identify specific parcels which could be created or improved to better implement the Waterfront Renewal Plan. These may take the form of improving the shape or size of development parcels, release of land which might otherwise have been needed for local circulation, changes in access from viaduct to depressed thus improving access to specific sites, and the potential for overrights rather than the less desirable underrights in the Central Artery corridor. If properly designed, it is acknowledged that a depressed facility is superior to other configurations from the standpoint of visual, noise and air pollution control. While the effects of these improvements on land use and values are subtle and difficult to measure, it is probable that the long-range effects would be beneficial, especially for residential uses. Boston as a matter of policy should be encouraging quality residential use and re-use in its core to support other economic activities there. Although predicted upon maintenance of the Central Artery as a viaduct structure, its depression could with some modifications enhance the overall objectives of the Waterfront plan. Enhancing Land Values The impact of depressing the Central Artery on land values in the Central Area would require a relatively complex analysis beyond the scope of this preliminary evaluation. However, such an action would have the following generalized tendencies: to optimize the "payoff" of development in the waterfront area in terms of value increases and expansion of the tax base by removing the visual and psychological barrier and improving linkages to the downtown and Government Center, to create some improved and additional sites for development which should offset the relatively minor acquisitions which will be required, to encourage the concentration of activities in the core, especially the financial district, and thereby optimize linkages, uses, rents and values, to enhance the general upgrade development of uses and values in abutting neighborhoods through a "ripple" effect. It should be emphasized that these effects would be long term and generally site-specific and are highly sensitive to the staging of construction improvements. Further, they would be offset partly by property actually acquired for the facility improvements and losses during the construction periods. However, to the extent that the proposed highway improvement would hasten development of sites already cleared or scheduled for clearance in the urban renewal area, it would speed up the renewal process and get these sites into
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