South Boston Seaport Strategic Transit Plan Archives

Transportation Advocates Letter on Congress St / Fort Point Design

June 17, 2022
Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Chief of Streets, City of Boston
Arthur Jemison, Chief of Planning, City of Boston
Pat Hoey, Senior Project Manager, Boston Transportation Department

Re: Congress Street, Fort Point Design

Dear Chief Franklin-Hodge, Chief Jemison and Mr. Hoey:

Our collective organizations offer joint comments on the Congress Street Fort Point Design that was recently presented at a public meeting.

Thank you for recommending a design that will create a safer, more attractive street that slows speeds and includes more space for people walking and biking.

Our support for the proposed design, and for a Congress Street that is not used as a corridor to connect buses to North Station, comes from our belief that the South Station-North Station bus connection concept that the City is putting forward will make some of the important improvements that are needed to enhance transit access from the north to the South Boston Seaport where it is so urgently needed.

However, we continue to have questions about the serious transit needs in this booming part of the City, and the planning required to allow the neighborhood’s residents, businesses and workers to thrive in the years ahead. We would like to meet with you again to discuss our comments and provide our thoughts on the South Boston Seaport Transit Plan (within which the Congress Street Fort Point Design sits). Specifically, we would like to touch base on the following elements of the transit plan:

Accessible walking between South Station and A Street, including both Melcher Street and the replacement of the Summer Street/A Street stairways. We understand that progress is being made on both of these issues.
Bus network redesign and the City’s anticipated comments to the MBTA, including:
- The need for two-way bus service on A Street
- Planning for Seaport Boulevard/North Station bus connection
Bike network planning, including a review of possible protected bike lanes on the Evelyn Moakley Bridge
The status of the Northern Avenue Bridge project
Update on the City’s interagency efforts with the MBTA, MassDOT, Massport and the BCEC, and how we can be helpful in supporting this needed collaboration

Additionally, as the design moves forward, we request that a curb management plan be developed that specifically addresses loading and passenger pick-up/drop-off. We believe that this is important both for the safety of people walking and biking and for the economic health of the area businesses. It will also help to build broad support among stakeholders for the redesign.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the plan. We look forward to working with you in the months ahead.

Sincerely,

Tom Ready, FPNA
Stacy Thompson, Executive Director, LivableStreets
Stacey Beuttell, Executive Director, WalkBoston
Wendy Landman, Senior Policy Advisor, WalkBoston
Becca Wolfson, Executive Director, Boston Cyclists Union
Galen Mook, Executive Director, Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition
Jarred Johnson, Executive Director, TransitMatters

WalkBoston Comments on the South Boston Seaport Strategic Transit Plan

July 24, 2020 | WalkBoston Comments on the South Boston Seaport Strategic Transit Plan

To:
Brian P. Golden, Director Boston Planning & Development Agency
Chris Osgood, Chief of Streets
Councilor Wu, Chair Planning, Development and Transportation
Councilor Flynn, District 2

WalkBoston appreciates the opportunity to comment on the plan and are glad to see that a broad set of options are under consideration. We also are glad that a diversity of perspectives is represented by the four criteria used: Expand, Rely, Respect and Equalize.

We offer the following comments and look forward to hearing from you with responses to our comments and the opportunity to comment again as the plan is advanced.

We are pleased that Improving Pedestrian Connections has emerged as one of the top candidates for short term implementation and agree that this strategy will serve many people and improve transit access and use for a broad range of users and locations.
After reviewing the options for short term strategies that are now under consideration, we believe that an evaluation that gives greater weight to Equalize as a value would better serve the needs of the District and of Boston as a whole.

The strategies with the highest Equalize ratings are:

Expand Off-Peak Transit Service 100 points
Dedicated Transit Corridors 70 points
North Station – South Station – South Boston Seaport Direct Bus or Shuttle Service 61 points
Bus or Shuttle connection from Nubian Square to South Boston Seaport Link via Broadway 60 points
Bus or Shuttle connection from Central Square to South Boston Seaport via LMA and Nubian Square 58 points

While we are pleased that Expanding Off-Peak Transit Service has been flagged as one of the top strategies, we are concerned that Extend Private and Consolidated Shuttles on A St to Broadway has also been given a top rating as this is the ONLY strategy among all of those evaluated that received a negative rating for Equalize, and that it actually increases travel time for many transit users.

We believe that the Bus or Shuttle connection from Nubian Square to South Boston Seaport Link via Broadway or the Bus or Shuttle connection from Central Square to South Boston Seaport via LMA and Nubian Square (# 2 and 3 in overall ratings) should be included as one of the strategies to be advanced. These two options also directly serve some of Boston’s neighborhoods with the greatest number and density of people of color.

There seems to be a disconnect between this BPDA Plan and the work of the Public Works Department on the Northern Avenue Bridge. As WalkBoston and a number of our fellow advocates have commented, we strongly disagree with the plan to allow shuttle buses to use a new Northern Avenue Bridge because it will negatively impact people walking and biking on the bridge, will require that the bridge be very large and expensive, and because it provides very little benefit to shuttle users.

None of the numerous bus service improvements suggested and reviewed in the South Boston Seaport Strategic Transit Plan (short or long term) are shown to be using a future Northern Avenue Bridge. The bridge itself is called out as a strategy, but it is not incorporated into any of the other strategies – all of the routes that cross the Fort Point Channel are shown using the Summer Street or Congress Street Bridges. We urge the Public Works Department to look again at its proposal and eliminate the use of the bridge for shuttle buses.

WalkBoston looks forward to working with you as this plan progresses.