Re: Thank You for MassDOT’s thoughtful I-90 process and presentation

June 29, 2018

To: Stephanie Pollack
Cc: Rep. Kevin Honan, Rep. Michael Moran, Senator Sal DiDomenico, Senator William Brownsberger, Councilor Mark Ciommo, Councilor Michelle Wu, Katherine Fichter, Jonathan Gulliver, James Gillooly, Tad Read

Secretary Pollack,

Thank you very much for presenting and responding to questions at Wednesday night’s I-90 Allston Task Force meeting, and your follow up in the Boston Globe Opinion piece. We appreciate all the thoughtful planning by you and your team that is evident in your presentation.

We’re very excited! Your announcement of the Independent Review Team to analyze the throat options is a great way to proceed. We look forward to working with Jack Wright, Ilyas Bhatti, and the rest of the team to find how the at-grade design can be best accomplished. Your help to implement near-term improvements for transit, biking, and walking in Allston is also much appreciated.

And we certainly agree how West Station and the Malvern Street busway do need rail and bus service plans to accomplish the mission of serving the needs of regional commuters and local businesses & residents, and we will work with the Focus40 and Commuter Rail Vision as the process to discuss that service. However without their physical construction there can be no service. So because of the urgent need for better transit through Allston, we hope MassDOT will work with the Task Force on the design and implementation of an ADA-compliant, two-track, interim West Station and the Malvern Street busway for inclusion in the first phase of the project.

We also hope that the review of permitting issues will look at how MassDOT can permit a project that yields improvements for all modes and all parts of the project area – and not take the perspective that the simplest permitting path is the best.

Lastly, we look forward to working with Mike O’Dowd and his team on improving the Phase One design by designing and evaluating:

• Rail yard flip
• Cambridge St. Bypass Road
• Lane reduction on Cambridge St. and its intersecting streets
• “Unchoke the Throat” improvements to Charles River paths and parkland
• Two-track Grand Junction Bridge over Soldiers Field Road
• Ecological restoration of the Charles River edge

Again, thank you for your thoughtful and sincere approach to finding the best way forward for this impressive project, which truly is a generational opportunity for the Commonwealth.

Sincerely,

Galen Mook, MassBike
Harry Mattison, Charles River Conservancy
Wendy Landman, WalkBoston
Tony Lechuga, LivableStreets Alliance
Jessica Robertson, Allston Resident
Hazel Ryerson, Allston Resident
Anthony D’Isidoro, Allston Civic Association
Jason Desrosier, Allston Brighton CDC
Emma Walters, Allston Village Main Streets
Frederick Salvucci