The debate over the repair and reuse of the Northern Avenue swing bridge rages on.
A panel appointed by Boston Mayor Martin Walsh agreed that it’s preferable to restore the century-old Northern Avenue swing bridge while providing access to pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles in the booming Seaport District. Now the ball is in Walsh’s court.
Last December’s closure of the bridge to pedestrians because of structural deficiencies has refocused attention on transportation planning in the Seaport District. Millions of square feet of commercial development have brought thousands of new jobs in the past decade – and worsening congestion.
More than 1,000 housing units now under construction and more projects in the pipeline seem destined to aggravate traffic jams and conflict. The overall volume of commutes into the Seaport will increase 63 percent by 2035, according to a study released in January.
The study committee’s consensus: restoring the three-lane bridge, with one lane dedicated for motor vehicles. Pedestrian and bicycle access also would be preserved.
“There was some concern in the pedestrian and bicycling community about opening it up to traffic,” said Rick Dimino, CEO of Boston-based planning organization A Better City Inc. “But at the end of the day, there was pretty substantial support that the bridge needs to be opened up to traffic again.”
Motor vehicle traffic was removed from the bridge in 1997 because of structural issues. The Evelyn Moakley, Congress Street and Summer Street bridges now handle traffic crossing between the Seaport and downtown.
The span is one of the last remaining swing bridges in New England, and should be retained because of its architectural significance, said Greg Galer, a committee member and executive director of the Boston Preservation Alliance.
“To see this bridge move is breathtaking for people who have never seen that type of industrial structure,” Galer said on recent rowboat tour of Fort Point Channel. “And it really talks about where Boston came from. I don’t think we can understand Boston’s high-tech world without understanding its past.”
In an interview this week, Walsh said he was reviewing the committee’s findings.
“Something has to happen because of the importance of that connection. It’s already difficult to travel in that area so we have to get that bridge up and running at some point,” he said.
The city also is looking at a fix for the Long Island Bridge, which is being demolished after its closure last October, and is accepting proposals for a replacement expected to cost $80 million. That project caused the relocation of the city’s homeless shelter located on the harbor island.
Walsh said the two projects are not competing against each other as financial priorities.
“I think they’re two very different bridges that serve two very different purposes,” he said. “We have to see which is feasible and which isn’t and see if we can work on partnerships to get them going, a public-private partnership possibly.”
A citizen advisory committee to the Boston Redevelopment Authority has discussed requiring developers to help pay for the Northern Avenue bridge repairs, part of a long list of proposed new public amenities sought for the area between the James Hook & Co. lobster pound and Christopher Columbus Park.
The South Boston Waterfront Sustainable Transportation Plan completed last year also recommended reopening the South Boston bypass haul road to general traffic, tying the Seaport into an expanded inner harbor ferry network, adding more buses running from the Seaport through downtown and upgrading the MBTA Silver Line’s capacity.
