Editor’s note: The MBTA and MassDOT announced it was withdrawing the easement offer shortly after noon on Monday, July 22, 2019.
The MBTA’s decision to invite developers to bid on easements for a 1.15-mile former railroad right-of-way raises serious concerns about the authority’s strategic thinking.
The narrow strip of land runs roughly from the Martin Coughlin Bypass Road in East Boston along Route 1 to a point just across the East Boston/Revere Line. It passes through largely industrial land along Chelsea Creek, including large oil terminals and distribution centers.
According to reporting in The Boston Globe, the agency put easement rights to the 8.6-acre property out to bid following interest from Millennium Partners subsidiary Cargo Ventures as part of a larger project in the area. The firm reportedly hopes to use the right-of-way to build a bypass route for trucks that would ordinarily use Route 1.
The MBTA’s responsiveness to interest from private real estate developers is laudable – the transit system owns many properties that could be put to much better use by private industry.
Why, with the state’s biggest economy gripped by a mobility crisis, would the agency chiefly charged with solving that crisis give up anything, anywhere, that could be used to move people using the most efficient means possible – rail transit – for a mere $2.5 million?
Add to that the serious congestion that regularly forms on Route 1A, current crowding on the Blue Line and the millions of square feet of development coming to the Suffolk Downs site and Revere Beach area in the next 20 years, and the MBTA’s choice looks even more suspect.
The MBTA’s invitation to bid includes a few stipulations that seem aimed at preserving the option to use the land for transit projects. The selected bidder’s use of the area “in no event” may “interfere with MBTA and MassDOT transportation operations or infrastructure.” In addition, “the MBTA and MassDOT shall retain the right to use any roadway, walkway and other transportation improvements constructed on the easement area.” The agency also stipulates provision must be made for a bicycle and pedestrian path for the length of the property.
Those words are little comfort for anyone concerned about the future of transportation in an area which will see substantial growth in the future.
Rail rights-of-way are incredibly scarce commodities and are next to impossible to convert back to rail once allowed to transition to other uses. Just ask public officials in Arlington and Lexington about building a Red Line extension to serve the bustling tech hub near Hanscom Field using the Minuteman Bikeway, a former railway line. Simply because there is no active plan to use the East Boston right-of-way for a new transit service does not mean it should be abandoned. The MBTA’s and MassDOT’s apparent logic in this matter would have prevented the recent expansion of Silver Line service to Chelsea, the creation of a future link between the biotech hubs in Kendall Square and Longwood along the Grand Junction tracks and, arguably, the Green Line Extension.
Climate change and the simple facts of geometry mean the future of transportation in Boston lies in moving more people, not more vehicles. State agencies – and developers – should act accordingly.
