Private sources would contribute a quarter of a billion dollars to transportation projects, including a new commuter rail station at Widett Circle in South Boston, according to the latest plans released by Boston 2024 organizers.
The group has identified a series of transportation improvements that are needed whether or not Boston gets the nod from the International Olympic Committee to host the summer games. Private sources would pay for the new rail station, an extension of the Massachusetts Avenue connector, relocation of the Cabot bus garage in South Boston and connection and expansion of A Street, Boston 2024 organizers said in this morning’s “Bid 2.0 Update.” The projects are estimated at $227 million.
Boston 2024 has chosen Widett Circle as its preferred location for the temporary 69,000-seat Olympic stadium, which would be redeveloped as a mixed-use neighborhood following the games. Widett Circle could become a “job engine,” Boston 2024 CEO Rich Davey said at a press conference today to discuss the latest submission to the U.S. Olympic Committee. The tax revenues from the 83-acre neighborhood could rise from the current $857,000 annually to $7 million by 2030 following redevelopment, organizers said, including 4,000 new units of mixed-income housing.
“It’s more money for everyone in the city. This project creates jobs, housing and opportunities more than any project I’ve ever seen,” said Steve Pagliuca, chairman of the Boston 2024 partnership.
Pagliuca estimated the games would generate $3 billion in economic benefits for the region.
The report cites $2 billion in transportation projects that are already part of the state’s long-range transportation plan, including upgrades to the MBTA subway lines, new commuter rail vehicles and new buses.
It names another $775 million in projects that are needed but not in the state’s current plans, including replacement of the Kosciuszko Circle rotary with a signalized intersection and improvements to JFK/UMass station on the Red Line.
The projects would accommodate projected increases in MBTA ridership, which would double to 51 percent of rush hour capacity by 2024, organizers said.
The new plan spreads Olympic venues across the state from New Bedford to Lowell to the Deerfield River, in contrast to the original plan for a Boston-focused games that would have been the “most walkable” Olympics ever. However, even with the new geographic dispersal, the average distance between venues and the athletes’ village at Columbia Point is less than six miles, organizers said. Organizers remain in negotiations with many of the host sites, Pagliuca said.
“It’s on us that we didn’t get the plan out fast enough. We wanted to wait until we had something substantive,” he said.
