7/6/99
Mike Tyrrell, core member of SAND and a proponent of the Harbortrail project which proposes contiguous bicyle access along the Fort Point Channel and waterfront, reports the following news regarding this important project.
- Brad Swing, an attorney with the City's Environmental Services Cabinet and
- Naomi Fraenkel, project planner with the B.R.A. have announced the release
- of a long awaited Federal Highway (ISTEA) Grant of $50,000.00 for the
- purpose of preparing studies of the trail's future alignment.
- Harbortrail is a concept for extending the existing Melnea Cass Boulevard
- Bikeway through the South End (along Bio-square/Boston Medical Center and
- the new Mass. Avenue Connector and onward to the Fort Point Channel
- corridor, Fan Pier Park and Harbor Island Ferries.
- The coalition meets monthly and is diversely composed of representatives
- from abutting neighborhoods and institutions including Boston University,
- BioSquare, the MWRA and the Pine Street Inn. Harbortrail is a pilot project
- of the Campaign for the Water's Edge; an open space access "drive" sponsored
- by Save the Harbor Save the Bay. The Campaign's intent is to connect
- Boston's inner-city communities with the open spaces and recreational edges
- of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay. The campaign's honorary Chairman is
- William O. Taylor Sr., former publisher of the Boston Globe.
- Next steps include release of a request for proposals (by the City) and the
- eventual hiring of traffic planning and landscape-architectural consultants.
- We expect to review safety issues in tandem with "visioning" the pedestrian
- bikeway. We are continuing to raise funds for signage, striping, enhanced
- traffic signals and major public art components.
- One goal of Harbortrail is to better link (at least psychologically) two
- distinct and growing arts communities... namely the Fort Point and Harrison
- Ave. "SOWA" districts. Please stay tuned..... the coalition hopes
- to fully engage SAND and other communities as a process emerges.
Your comments as a visitor to the SAND website would be appreciated and forwarded for discussion.