Members of the state-led Morrissey Boulevard Commission held a public meeting last Wednesday (Sept. 25) in Savin Hill to discuss still-evolving plans to re-engineer the roadway and coastal resiliency measures nearby. Planners from the state’s Dept. of Transportation (MassDOT) gave the briefing and took feedback as they work to meet a year-end deadline to give their recommendations to the Legislature.

Two more meetings are expected to be held before Dec. 31, with the dates not yet set.

“We want people to understand we are listening to them, and it is being incorporated into the process,” said MassDOT project manager Ethan Britland, who led the discussion throughout the two-hour-long meeting at the Boston Collegiate Charter School. The meeting was also held via Zoom.

Some of the talk focused on how planners are trying to coordinate with other, related plans. “The city is conducting a study around the area of the JKF/UMass station and how to improve access to it,” said Britland, who noted that it has an open house on Oct. 9 and a virtual public meeting on Oct. 16. He emphasized that “as a part of project development. we all need to work together.” 

Most of the meeting was dedicated to presenting an overview of the corridor layout and the initial alternative analysis. 

“We developed a layout that has an option for Neponset Circle, two for Freeport Street, Bianculli Boulevard, two for First Street, and Preble [Circle],” said Britland. Each alternative was evaluated for potential benefits and impact based on corridor mobility, resilience and ecology, placemaking, and constructability. 

“We’re calling it initial because a big part of our process is getting to these layouts,” said Britland. “We’ve been hearing a lot throughout the process that this is what people want to see. Once we built these layouts, it allowed us to do most of our analyses.”

He added: “We acknowledge that we are going to hear a lot of feedback on the info we present, but please be aware that it is our initial pass. Part of our study process is to come out and talk to the public about the work we’re doing. We want to hear feedback.” 

One resident felt the plans focused too much on “moving traffic along,” and not enough on “neighborhood connectivity.” As was the case at the last meeting in August, the placement of U-turns was a key topic for residents. Under a current plan, the U-turn at Dunkin’/Stop & Shop would be eliminated, but a second U-turn near Neponset Circle at the Devine Rink would be kept intact. The project managers said that crash statistics show that the Dunkin’/Stop & Shop U-turn is a greater problem. 

District 3 City Councilor John FitzGerald said the presentation was well done while noting that it was a lot of information at once.  He asked that the commission get the [slide deck] a bit earlier, adding, “we’d like to come in with a little bit more of an understanding. There’s a lot more we have to look at and I think the next time we’re on the road, we have to think about it as we’re driving through.” 

More information about the Morrissey Commission and the Morrissey Boulevard project can be found at mass.gov/info-details/Morrissey-boulevard-commission.