BOARD OF June 26, 2019 DIRECTORSMEMBERS

Chair128 Businessman Council, Inc. The Honorable Martin J. Walsh Charles Pappalardo Mayor of the City of Boston Charles River TMA Vertex Pharmaceuticals 1 City Hall Square

TreasurerCommuteWorks/MASCO , I Boston, MA 02201 Yanni Tsipis WSDevens Development TMI Dear Mayor Walsh: TaranJunction Grigsby TMO Fidelity On behalf of Seaport TMA, I am pleased to provide the following comments Merrimack Valley TMA Dana Griffin on the reconstruction of the Northern Avenue Bridge. As a member of the JamestownMetroWest/495 Properties TMA Northern Avenue Bridge Mayoral Advisory Task Force, we have had the

DavidNeponset O’Shaughnessy Valley TMA opportunity to participate in twelve Task Force meetings in which we met The Seaport Companies with City of Boston staff, the consultant team from AECOM, and members South Boston Seaport TMA Bruce Pearson of the public to discuss and evaluate options for replacing this historic John Hancock TranSComm bridge. Based on the robust discussion that occurred during these

Alan Sheard meetings and the data presented by subject matter experts from AECOM,

P&G/Gillette we have come to several conclusions regarding the future of the Northern

Charlayne Murrell-Smith Avenue Bridge that we will share with you in this letter. Boston Children’s Museum Seaport TMA is the South Boston Waterfront’s Transportation Management

Association. Our membership-based organization represents over fifty-five employers, developers, and cultural institutions in the South Boston Waterfront and Fort Point neighborhood. The TMA offers transportation programs to employers and commuters and advocates for transportation projects and policies to help keep the Seaport moving and thriving as an extraordinary place to live, work, play, and visit. Given that our primary

mission is to improve transportation options and mobility in the Seaport, we have devoted a considerable amount of time to evaluating how the new Northern Avenue Bridge can best serve the mobility needs of the South MassCommute Boston Waterfront, both now and for generations to come. c/o Northeast Transit Planning & Our vision for the next Northern Avenue Bridge Management Seaport TMA’s vision for the next Northern Avenue Bridge aligns closely 28 Brook Road with the City’s goals to improve mobility, honor history, strengthen Marblehead, MA 01945 resiliency, and to create a destination. While all four of these goals are (781) 639-6262 phone critical to creating a new bridge that represents the aspirations of our (781) 639-6262 fax www.masscommute.co community, our primary focus has been on how the future bridge will serve m the mobility needs of the Seaport and the resiliency of the bridge in the face of rising sea levels.

1 www.Seaporttma.org | 200 Seaport Blvd Boston, MA 02210 | 617-385-5510 | [email protected] | @SeaportTMA

BOARD OF We strongly support a bridge deck design that responds to the multi- DIRECTORSMEMBERS modal needs of the Seaport today and anticipates the future mobility

needs of the District. This means prioritizing protected space for walking, 128 Business Council, Inc. Chairman protected space for cycling, a dedicated bus lane, and a bridge deck that Charles Pappalardo VertexCharles RiverPharmaceuticals TMA offers enough width to provide flexibility to accommodate both the growth of the District and the mobility options that we may want the bridge to TreasurerCommuteWorks/MASCO , I Yanni Tsipis support in the future. Additionally, we support a bridge design that makes WSDevens Development TMI space for emergency vehicles to traverse the bridge to respond to

TaranJunction Grigsby TMO emergency situations at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse, on the Fidelity water sheet below the bridge, or at other locations in the Seaport adjacent Merrimack Valley TMA Dana Griffin to the bridge. JamestownMetroWest/495 Properties TMA Biking and walking DavidNeponset O’Shaughnessy Valley TMA The Seaport Companies Reducing single-occupancy vehicle traffic in the South Boston Waterfront South Boston Seaport TMA is one of Seaport TMA’s principal objectives. We work to achieve this Bruce Pearson John Hancock objective by offering commuters tools and incentives to use public TranSComm transportation, to walk, and to bike. The Northern Avenue Bridge once Alan Sheard served as a heavily-used bicycle and pedestrian link between the Seaport P&G/Gillette and Downtown, and we know that a new bridge will similarly serve as a Charlayne Murrell-Smith Boston Children’s Museum gateway to the Seaport for cyclists and pedestrians.

We, along with our colleagues on the Mayoral Advisory Task Force

wholeheartedly support a future bridge deck design that offers safe and comfortable protected infrastructure to support the thousands of cyclists and pedestrians that are projected to use the bridge on a daily basis. The inclusion of safe and comfortable bike infrastructure aligns with the City’s

Go Boston 2030 goals for expanding access and improving safety for all modes of travel in the City, and would complement the growing network of bike lanes that have been constructed in the Seaport or are planned for construction in the near-future. MassCommute Transit c/o Northeast Transit Planning & In addition to thoughtfully designed bicycle and pedestrian Management accommodations on the Northern Avenue Bridge, we strongly support the 28 Brook Road inclusion of a dedicated lane to be used exclusively by transit vehicles. A Marblehead, MA 01945 dedicated lane for transit vehicles moving westbound towards Downtown (781) 639-6262 phone would offer dedicated space for MBTA and commuter shuttle services that (781) 639-6262 fax will incentivize those who work in or live in the Seaport to use public www.masscommute.co transportation to make connections to destinations such as the Blue Line at m Aquarium, North Station, and the North End.

2 www.Seaporttma.org | 200 Seaport Blvd Boston, MA 02210 | 617-385-5510 | [email protected] | @SeaportTMA

BOARD OF The analysis conducted by AECOM for the Mayoral Advisory Task Force in DIRECTORSMEMBERS November of 2018 concluded that a transit lane paired with bicycle and

pedestrian facilities would move the most people across the bridge using 128 Business Council, Inc. Chairman the fewest number of vehicles compared to allowing general vehicular Charles Pappalardo VertexCharles RiverPharmaceuticals TMA traffic on the bridge. AECOM’s analysis also found that a dedicated transit lane would offer a 4-minute travel time savings for transit users compared TreasurerCommuteWorks/MASCO , I Yanni Tsipis to current conditions. For commuters traveling by transit from the Seaport WSDevens Development TMI to North Station or Aquarium Station in the evening, 4 minutes is a

TaranJunction Grigsby TMO significant time savings that will improve the overall travel experience for Fidelity transit users and will contribute to encouraging further adoption of transit Merrimack Valley TMA Dana Griffin as a means of commuting to the South Boston Waterfront. Moving transit JamestownMetroWest/495 Properties TMA vehicles onto the Northern Avenue Bridge from the Moakley Bridge may

also provide the added benefit of reducing overall traffic volume and cue DavidNeponset O’Shaughnessy Valley TMA The Seaport Companies lengths on the Moakley Bridge. South Boston Seaport TMA Bruce Pearson A bridge for today; a bridge for the future John Hancock TranSComm The design of the Northern Avenue Bridge should meet the needs of the Alan Sheard South Boston Waterfront today but should also be engineered to account P&G/Gillette for the growth projected to occur in the next 10-15 years and beyond. Charlayne Murrell-Smith Boston Children’s Museum According to Go Boston 2030, By 2030, the Seaport is projected to gain:

• 13,000 new jobs;

• Close to 10 million new square feet of commercial development; • The redevelopment of existing commercial space and the potential expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center; • Over 1,500 new hotel rooms; • New housing construction that will bring thousands of new residents to the District.

Further, the South Boston Waterfront Sustainable Transportation Plan estimates that over the next two decades another 17 million square feet of MassCommute development is underway or planned, and that by 2035 total person-trips within the Waterfront area are projected to grow by 63 percent. This area c/o Northeast Transit is one of the fastest growing job centers in Massachusetts, and the demand Planning & for transportation services to this area will continue to increase. Management

28 Brook Road One of the clear and unanimous goals that the Mayoral Advisory Task Marblehead, MA 01945 Force has agreed upon is that we support the construction of a bridge that (781) 639-6262 phone will last for 75-100 years. If that’s the case, then we need to consider the (781) 639-6262 fax future mobility needs of the District – those that we understand today and www.masscommute.co those that we can’t yet account for in the future. It’s hard to predict what m the mobility needs of the Seaport will be in 25, 50, or 70 years. Designing

the bridge with a transit lane will offer the capacity and flexibility we need to account for the future transit needs of the South Boston Waterfront. 3 www.Seaporttma.org | 200 Seaport Blvd Boston, MA 02210 | 617-385-5510 | [email protected] | @SeaportTMA

BOARD OF DIRECTORSMEMBERS Resiliency

Chair128 Businessman Council, Inc. Charles Pappalardo Seaport TMA fully supports a bridge design that will address the challenges VertexCharles RiverPharmaceuticals TMA of climate change and sea level rise. Climate Ready South Boston has

TreasurerCommuteWorks/MASCO , I identified the Fort Point Channel as one of the primary areas of the South Yanni Tsipis Boston Waterfront that is vulnerable to tidal flooding. The AECOM WSDevens Development TMI consulting team in collaboration with the City and consultants from the Climate Ready South Boston project team have recommended raising the TaranJunction Grigsby TMO Fidelity approaches to the bridge by four to five feet and raising the center span an Merrimack Valley TMA additional six feet to provide a sixteen foot clearance for the navigable Dana Griffin channel to match the Evelyn Moakley Bridge. Raising the Northern Avenue JamestownMetroWest/495 Properties TMA Bridge to these heights is intended to make the bridge resilient to the nine DavidNeponset O’Shaughnessy Valley TMA inches of sea level rise estimated by 2030 and the thirty-six inches of sea The Seaport Companies level rise estimated by 2070. Raising the height of the bridge may also South Boston Seaport TMA encourage the deployment of additional water transportation options that Bruce Pearson John Hancock could use the Fort Point Channel to connect to docks at the TranSComm Intercontinental Hotel and Boston Children’s Museum. Alan Sheard

P&G/Gillette ------

Charlayne Murrell-Smith Boston Children’s Museum Seaport TMA strongly believes that the inclusion of protected bicycle and

pedestrian facilities and a dedicated bus lane, coupled with a design that offers accommodations for emergency vehicles and flexibility for future mobility needs is the best outcome for the new Northern Avenue Bridge. This design will improve mobility in the South Boston Waterfront today and will provide adequate capacity as the District continues to grow. In addition, we feel strongly that the bus lane on the Northern Avenue Bridge should be paired with other bus system improvements in the Seaport and throughout the city that will improve connectivity and reliability of the City of Boston’s transit network.

We greatly appreciate the City of Boston’s commitment to rebuilding the MassCommute Northern Avenue Bridge. We thank you for facilitating a transparent and c/o Northeast Transit public process for evaluating design options and for soliciting opinions Planning & regarding the design and uses of the bridge from a broad array of Management stakeholders. 28 Brook Road Marblehead, MA 01945 Sincerely, (781) 639-6262 phone (781) 639-6262 fax www.masscommute.co m Patrick Sullivan Executive Director, Seaport TMA

4 www.Seaporttma.org | 200 Seaport Blvd Boston, MA 02210 | 617-385-5510 | [email protected] | @SeaportTMA