Boston Mayor Marty Walsh wants to bring active recreation to the Fort Point Channel and build new “large open spaces” on both sides of the waterway that runs between downtown Boston and the Seaport District.
The Walsh administration is partnering with The Trustees of Reservations on the Fort Point Channel open space initiative following a two-year study. Elements could include new islands, marshes and pedestrian bridges as part of a “connected and expanded open space network” including flood mitigation strategies, Walsh said in a speech this morning to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
The plan will tie together areas including the Boston Harborwalk, Martin Richard Park, the Gillette property and the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Walsh said.
One option is a man-made island in the Channel flanked by pedestrian walkways, said Nick Black, managing director of the Boston waterfront initiative for the Trustees.
“By putting an island in the middle of the channel with a walkway on either side, it’s a great way to create a connection from downtown to the Seaport,” Black said.
Other elements could include installation of “living shoreline” wetlands and other new barriers that control flooding, he said.
“Right now, you’re up above this rather flat stone barrier that channels water back,” he said. “We’d be looking to create land forms with softer edges that water can move through but would stop a majority of the water.”
Final designs and cost estimates would begin after the city completes an analysis of flood-prone areas on the South Boston side, after having completed surveys for East Boston and Charlestown, Black said. The project requires consultations with waterfront property owners but would not require major land acquisitions, he said.
The project is subject to state, local and potentially federal permitting. Funding could be provided through a public-private partnership, Black said.
With unprecedented development activity along the waterfront, groups including the Conservation Law Foundation and the Barr Foundation have advocated for more public spaces to be set aside and criticized a lack of cohesive planning on major development sites.
