The headline is understated, but I had to get the pun in there.
On October 22, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts committed to funding the long-planned bike-ped bridge over the Mystic River that will connect Assembly Station in Somerville with the Encore Casino in Everett. The 785-foot structure will pass under, and then bow around, the existing MBTA rail spur bridge, cresting at 35 ft. above the water. It will be 12 ft. wide between railings, and it will, per the above-linked MassDOT press release, “include lighting, signage, and benches along its entire length”. The press release coincided with a press conference at the casino site featuring Governor Baker, the mayors of Everett and Somerville, and other state and local officials.
Think of that width and those amenities in relation to how the bridge will be used. It is estimated to see, on average, 2,300 pedestrians and 350 bicyclists per day (see above MassDOT link). Those trips will be a good mix of different purposes, starting with access to the casino from the Orange Line at Assembly Station. People from the Everett side will be able to better access the T. As Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria stated in the press release, “It will provide Everett residents direct access to the rapid MBTA station at Assembly Row, in turn, providing access to jobs and other key destinations without a car or multiple transit transfers.” DeMaria also mentioned how the project “stitches the growing 25-mile network Mystic River trail system and regional pedestrian and bicycle routes”, meaning more recreational trip options. Entertainment, shopping, commuter, and recreational — these varying purposes mean that trips will be spread out throughout the day and night, some in a hurry, others leisurely. You can see how the lighting and benches will be important.
Zooming out, you can see the big benefit the bridge will have for longer recreational bike trips and equitable bicycling access — for people from the North Shore to bike to Boston for a day , for Boston residents to better escape the city for a day and explore the North Shore, and for bike tourists, like East Coast Greenway riders, to navigate through the metro area’s inner core on their way north or south. As the MassDOT blog post explains,
Once completed, the bridge will also allow the Northern Strand shared use path, which travels from Lynn to the Mystic River, to realize its full potential. The 11.5 mile Northern Strand project, which the Baker-Polito Administration supported through a $15 million investment, provides a transportation and recreation corridor that connects the communities of Everett, Malden, Revere, Saugus, and Lynn. The bridge between Somerville and Everett will connect the Northern Strand to the Mystic River and Malden River trail networks, and deliver an equitable mobility solution to residents of surrounding communities. Four of the five communities along the Northern Strand are Gateway Cities, and all the communities, as well as Somerville, are Environmental Justice communities.
MassDOT blog/press release
Before 2014, bike-ped options across the Mystic were even more challenging. In 2013, when Eve and I rode the ECG route north from Boston, we used the high-stress Alford Street bridge (this was before the completion of MassDOT’s major reconstruction, which included new sidewalks and buffered bike lanes), high-stress Sweetser Circle rotary, then a high-stress left turn from Main St. just to get to the Northern Strand, which was then partially closed in Malden due to construction. How cool it would have been to have instead ridden across a scenic, dedicated Mystic River bike-ped bridge.
What about active transportation connections to the south? Assembly Square Drive has a sidepath and buffered bike lanes that get you to Mystic Ave., but Mystic Ave. and I-93 are barriers there. I detailed the potential options in a June 2020 post that summarized the CPX Connections Study, which looked at the feasibility of several gap fillers in Somerville and Cambridge.
Another future connection is extending the Mystic River greenway trail south past the Alford St. Bridge to connect to the planned major rebuild of Rutherford Ave. which will feature a bike-ped sidepath and separated bike lanes. 25% plans for the Rutherford Ave. project were finished a year ago, with more detailed design and right-of-way acquisition taking place over the next year-plus. Construction is expected to start in 2023 and take four years.
In the image below, you can see the various existing (green) and planned (gray) shared use paths, along with existing physically separated on-street bike lanes (blue). The Mystic River Bridge will help tie all these threads together.
A final point on the bridge: the Baker-Polito administration is committed to funding it even if they don’t receive a federal grant for it (as is noted in the Globe article linked above). Federal aid is typical for a project of this cost and importance. The estimated construction cost is $49 million, with $37 million of that for the bridge over the river itself, and the remaining $12 million for the path connection around Draw Seven Park and a bridge over the T tracks to the Assembly Station platform. A $25 million federal BUILD (RAISE) grant application has been submitted, and review of it is pending. (The state’s gaming commission has also kicked in $650k for design.) But given the clear benefits of the project, the pending RAISE grant, and passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), aka the “Infrastructure Bill”, the chance of attracting federal dollars is promising.
Jeff Brubaker 