While a number of transportation projects are in the works by Cambridge staff, such as efforts to complete the Cycling Safety Ordinance, many of the large, transformative projects on the horizon come from departments outside the city, including the state Department of Transportation, MBTA, the Eversource energy utility and the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which is responsible for Memorial Drive.
Updates for five of those projects were provided to a Tuesday meeting of the City Council’s Transportation and Public Utilities Committee by officials from the city’s Traffic, Parking & Transportation Department.
While the city can and will advocate for local concerns, the state agencies own and operate their own assets and make decisions independently, officials stressed.
With the exception of a bus network redesign, many of these projects are years to a decade away from total completion and could change significantly along the way.
Bus network redesign
A complete overhaul of bus routes to align more closely with travel patterns and preferences studied from 2019 to 2023 is one of the signature projects of the MBTA over the coming years.
The first phase of that network redesign went into effect in December, with just a few local routes changing. Even where routes do not change, the MBTA says it will add service frequency and range to most bus lines.
Future changes will add a few key bus connections to Cambridge, including a Kendall Square-to-Charlestown connection via Lechmere and a Kendall Square-to-Assembly Row connection, as well as additional frequent bus service to a number of key corridors, such as the 47 in Central Square.
The start dates of future phases have yet to be announced, but will go into effect over the next five years. City officials said the redesign has been made possible by the increased hiring of drivers, and the success of future changes will depend on the hiring and retention of drivers by the MBTA.
Interstate 90 multimodal
Over the next decade or longer, MassDOT will embark on a massive multimodal plan to remove an aging highway viaduct in Allston, putting the turnpike at ground level and creating a “West Station” for the commuter rail line running through the region. The proposal would expand parkland in the area and reconnect Lower Allston residents to the Charles River.
While about $1.8 billion in funds have been pledged to the project, including a $335 million federal grant, an additional billion is needed for the full project’s estimate.
The project is going through a lengthy environmental permitting process that should finish sometime this year. The construction start date depends on that process and future funding.
After the meeting, city councillor Catherine Zusy asked whether president Donald Trump’s freeze on federal grants – blocked by a federal judge at least temporarily – would affect the multimodal project. City officials said it’s too early to tell, but state agencies are working on an answer. Massachusetts’ Andrea Campbell joined nearly two dozen other attorney generals in suing the Trump administration this week over the funding block.
Greater Cambridge Energy Project
A massive 11-story energy substation is being built under Kendall Square between Broadway and Binney Street to support growing energy needs in Cambridge, Somerville and Boston.
Eversource broke ground this week on the first piece of the construction, which will build just the energy transmission lines. Construction is taking place between Galileo Galilei Way and Third Street on Broadway, the span that includes a Residence Inn and Marriott hotel. Impacts are expected between 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Transmission line work along Memorial Drive is expected at the end of 2025.
The transmission and distribution line construction will continue for quite some time, with estimates stretching into 2029. Full completion of the project is not expected until 2031. Some of the work will stretch into the Allston project and be coordinated to occur at the same time.
In public comment after the updates, resident Heather Hoffman described the Eversource project as “an abject failure” by the city in failing to pay attention to the infrastructure needs of new developments.
BU Bridge and rotary
The Department of Conservation and Recreation has completed substantial work on Memorial Drive to widen the Paul Dudley White Path in the aftermath of the Sept. 23 death of bicyclist Paul Corcoran.
A number of other safety changes have been proposed and promised by advocates, including signal timing and lane striping changes to make the rotary and bridge safer and more efficient.
City officials did not have additional updates on the project, but said they’ll be paying attention to details as DCR announces them. Assistant commissioner for street management Jeffrey Parenti said MassDOT has been studying changes to the rotary as part of its work on the Reid overpass above it, which could result in substantial changes.
Further west, Phase Three of a Memorial Drive redesign is wrapping up its design phase. That project will reduce the lanes on Memorial Drive to two from four in the section west of the Harvard bridge and expand the parkland along the river. That project is expected to go under construction in the summer or fall of 2025.
Alewife MBTA station
The MBTA announced last summer that it will be looking for a private partner to help take on the redesign of the Alewife station garage, the station itself and area around it.
The T is still in the process of identifying that partner, but the request for proposals should be issued soon, as the department had previously identified January as a release date.
Once that partner is identified, Cambridge officials said they plan to fold the development process of the Alewife garage into its rezoning efforts for that region, just as it did in the “quadrangle” region when the life-sciences developer Healthpeak Properties announced projects there.
The MBTA has signaled that it plans to take a novel approach to the Alewife garage project, working directly and cooperatively with the development partner on the entire plan and design for the site.
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