PUBLIC INFOMRATION MEETING
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2014 AT 6:00 P.M.
AT
CHELSEA CITY HALL
500 BROADWAY
CHELSEA, MA 02150
FOR THE PROPOSED
SILVER LINE GATEWAY PROJECT
AND WASHINGTON AVENUE BRIDGE REPLACEMENT
Bridge No.: C-09-001
Project No.: 604428
IN CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
HIGHWAY DIVISION
FRANCIS A. DEPAOLA, P.E.
HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATOR
PATRICIA A. LEAVENWORTH, P.E.
CHIEF ENGINEER
Arlington Reporting Company
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2
PRESENTERS
Joseph Pavao, Project Manager,
MassDOT - Highway Division
Scott Hamwey, MassDOT – Office of Transportation
Planning
Francis Astone, PE, Senior Project Manager,
AECOM Technology Corporation
John McCormack, MBTA Project Manager
SPEAKER INDEX
Name
Page
Joseph Pavao, Moderator,
MassDOT - Highway Division,
5, 6, 21, 24, 25,
28, 30, 31, 32, 33,
34, 35, 36, 37, 38,
39, 44, 45, 46
City Manager Jay Ash, Chelsea
4, 10
Frank Astone, AECOM
6, 10, 21, 32, 40,
41, 42
John McCormack, MBTA
6, 40, 41
John Lenthall
24, 25
Joe Dorant, MOSES
26
Pat Russell, MWRA
26, 27, 28, 30
Bob Cameron, Chelsea Fire Dept.
30, 32, 33
John Vitagliano
33, 34
Manuel Strassburger
34, 35, 36, 37, 38,
39
Arlington Reporting Company
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SPEAKER INDEX
Name
Page
Barry Steinberg
39, 40, 41, 42, 44,
45
Scott Hamwey, MassDOT
43, 44
Councilor Giovanni Recupero
45, 46
EXHIBITS
Description
Page
Brochure
48-49
Sign-In Sheet
50-52
Arlington Reporting Company
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P R O C E E D I N G S
CITY MANAGER JAY ASH:
2
Hi, everyone.
3
My name is Jay Ash.
4
Chelsea.
5
back for another public meeting on the Silver Line
6
Gateway project.
7
I’m the City Manager here in
It’s a great pleasure to welcome everybody
I want to introduce a couple of city
8
councilors who are here.
9
Recupero are with us from the Chelsea City Council.
10
We all remain very excited about the opportunity to
11
bring the Silver Line to Chelsea and appreciate all of
12
the work that everybody has done for us.
13
Leo Robinson and Giovanni
And I know there will be some questions
14
and answers tonight, so I appreciate Joe and his team
15
being here to give us an update on what’s going on and
16
to answer any questions.
17
As always, if anyone has any questions
18
afterwards in another day, two, three, next week, a
19
month, feel free to get in touch with me and I’ll be
20
able to at least facilitate an answer to your question
21
if I can’t answer it directly, and especially I’d like
22
to know any concerns that anyone may have so we can
23
continue to try and work on those.
24
So, with that, I will turn it over to
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Joe to start his introduction.
MODERATOR JOSEPH PAVAO:
2
3
Thank you, Jay.
4
mic or is it better with it?
Thank you.
Can people hear me better with the
5
AUDIENCE:
With the mic.
6
AUDIENCE:
I think we need it.
7
MODERATOR PAVAO:
8
AUDIENCE:
9
MODERATOR PAVAO:
You do?
Yes.
Thank you, Jay.
My name is Joe Pavao.
10
I work for
11
MassDOT’s Bridge Project Management Section.
12
going to be very brief.
13
myself and thank everybody for coming out.
I’m
I just want to introduce
We’ve been working on this project for,
14
15
well, after Planning handed it over to MassDOT, the
16
Design Section, we’ve been working on it for about 10
17
months.
18
Chelsea, the MBTA, to try to come up with a project
19
that addresses everybody’s needs.
And we’ve been working with the City of
The project is being let out in two
20
I believe advertised on July 19th was Phase I
21
phases.
22
of the project, which is being done by MassDOT.
23
Frank Astone from AECOM is going to go through a
24
PowerPoint that explains that in detail.
Arlington Reporting Company
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And,
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1
But this project doesn’t end here.
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have a Phase II that’s going to be building a new
3
commuter rail station by the Market Basket.
4
that’s being designed.
5
I know I saw him earlier.
6
John McCormack.
And
I think Frank Astone is here.
Not Frank Astone, sorry,
7
JOHN MCCORMACK:
8
MODERATOR PAVAO:
9
We
Right here.
Right here.
John’s
going to be the project manager heading up the design
10
for Phase II along with Frank Astone.
They’re going
11
to continue the design with AECOM and hopefully follow
12
on to Phase I to keep this project moving right
13
through construction.
So, I’m going to turn it over to Frank.
14
15
He’s going to give a PowerPoint presentation.
The
16
purpose tonight is to update the public on where we’re
17
at and what the timeline is moving forward and to
18
answer any questions you may have today.
19
FRANK ASTONE:
Thank you, Joe.
20
The PowerPoint presentation is one that
21
you’ve seen before, a couple of new elements in there.
22
I’ll try to go through this as quickly as I can,
23
again, because I don’t think this is new to most
24
people.
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So, as Joe mentioned, the project is
1
2
really a collaboration between MassDOT, the MBTA, and
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the City of Chelsea.
4
also being designed by EOEEA.
5
into those elements as we move forward through the
6
project.
And there’s a segment of this
And we’re going to get
7
And so he mentioned he’s managing the
8
design of Phase I, which is the busway, the commuter
9
rail stations, and the shared-use path, and Washington
10
Avenue Bridge reconstruction.
11
John McCormack will be managing the
12
design of the commuter rail station relocation and
13
some other upgrades along the way.
14
So, the project phasing, again, Joe
15
mentioned two phases, Phase I and II.
16
said, is the busway, the BRT stations -- and, right
17
now, those are just three of the four BRT stations,
18
the one at Mystic Mall, the Box District, and Eastern
19
Avenue -- the Washington Avenue bridge replacement,
20
and the shared-use path.
21
Phase I, as we
And, Phase II, again, the commuter rail
22
station relocation, the decommissioning of the
23
existing commuter rail station, at which point there
24
will be that fourth BRT station that is in the same
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general area as the existing commuter rail station.
And, during Phase II, we’re going to be
2
3
analyzing not only the intersections along the way,
4
those at Everett Avenue, Spruce Street, Arlington
5
Street, and even down at Eastern Avenue and Central
6
Street, but also how it interconnects with the
7
commuter rail operations.
8
So, the schedule, again, Joe mentioned
9
we’ve completed the final design and advertised Phase
10
I on July 19th.
11
to be somewhere mid to end of September.
12
anticipate an award of a contract to the low-bid
13
contractor sometime this fall.
14
construction will probably start early next spring.
The bid opening for Phase I is going
We
And, really, the main
It’s about a two-year project, so we’re
15
16
looking at the potential completion of the Phase I
17
portion of the project by the end of 2016.
Phase II is going to be going on
18
19
concurrently.
The design has just started.
So, we’re
20
looking at design development over the next year.
21
We’ll be putting that out for construction bids about
22
this time next year.
23
the end of 2015.
24
approximately two-year construction period.
That bid opening will be towards
And, again, that’s another
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So, the
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1
Phase II work will be completed sometime towards the
2
end of 2017.
The project, again, we’re focused on
3
4
the section in Chelsea, but it really involves a five-
5
mile corridor that provides Silver Line service from
6
South Station all the way to Mystic Mall in Chelsea.
So, it’s going to utilize a lot of the
7
8
existing infrastructure right now:
the South Boston
9
Seaport access area, the Ted Williams Tunnel into the
10
airport, the Coughlin Bypass, and then onto the new
11
Silver Line busway.
So, again, it’s the section through the
12
13
City of Chelsea.
14
Avenue and extend up to Mystic Mall.
Here it shows the location of the four
15
16
It’s going to start at Eastern
new BRT stations.
About the midpoint you can see where
17
18
the Washington Avenue Bridge replacement will be
19
reconstructed.
And the new commuter rail station,
20
21
where it currently is at Arlington and Sixth, it’s
22
going to move down towards behind Market Basket.
23
there will be access to that new station from Everett
24
Avenue.
Arlington Reporting Company
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So,
10
That’s one thing I’ve learned, Jay.
1
2
I’ve started to figure out the difference between
3
Everett Avenue and Eastern Avenue.
CITY MANAGER JAY ASH:
4
5
Very good,
Frank.
FRANK ASTONE:
6
So, we’re going to start
7
here at Everett Avenue, the Mystic Mall Station.
8
There’s plenty of parking now behind Market Basket.
9
I’m not sure what that’s about, but we will have a
10
station here.
As you come inbound from South Boston,
11
12
you’re going to cross Everett Avenue.
They’re going
13
to load and unload here.
14
load and unload for another platform, and then head
15
off into Boston.
They’ll turn around and then
16
As we move sort of in a west to east
17
direction now, here we have another intersection at
18
Spruce Street.
19
City of Chelsea with a construction project to
20
reconstruct sections of Spruce Street.
21
in close contact with the designers and contractors in
22
the City to make sure we’re fully coordinated.
23
24
And we’ve been coordinating with the
So, we’ve been
As we move towards Arlington and Sixth
Street, a couple of the things just to keep in mind.
Arlington Reporting Company
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In order to have this new intersection just operate
2
more efficiently and more safely, we are changing
3
Sixth Street from two-way in this area to one-way away
4
from the intersection, and the same thing with
5
Arlington.
6
area here from Third Street to Sixth.
7
to be one-way heading north.
8
done that is, again, just to make the operations at
9
this intersection be a little safer.
Arlington is going to be two-way in this
This is going
And the reason we’ve
We’ve gone to the Traffic Commission
10
11
and presented this not only to the Commission, but to
12
a number of abutters in the area that attended that
13
meeting.
14
And just slightly moving to the east,
15
we’ve got the Downtown Chelsea Station.
In this area,
16
we’ve actually split the inbound and the outbound
17
platforms as you can see.
18
that is we’re really sort of confined in space.
19
running parallel to the commuter rail tracks here, so
20
those obviously can’t move.
21
obviously, to eliminate having to take any buildings,
22
any businesses, any residences.
23
this really fit, we’ve had to stagger the outbound
24
platform and the inbound platform.
And the main reason for
We’re
And we’re trying,
So, in order to make
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In addition to access from Arlington
1
2
and Sixth, we’re also looking at constructing a
3
secondary access from Washington Avenue down to the
4
inbound platform.
5
work as we’ll be constructing this fourth BRT station.
This will be part of the Phase II
As we move just to the east of
6
7
Washington Avenue, again, this bridge is going to be
8
totally reconstructed in-kind.
9
it’s a two-lane roadway now.
10
It’s going to be -It’s going to continue
to be a two-lane roadway, sidewalks on both sides.
Just east of here is where we actually
11
12
start to look upon the shared-use path.
And, MassDOT
13
and the City of Chelsea have been working together
14
with the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs to
15
construct this shared-use path, which will be shared
16
with bicyclists, pedestrians, and so forth.
So, as it moves forward, the bike path
17
18
actually crosses Broadway and it picks up on the other
19
side.
20
And then from this point on, the busway no longer runs
21
parallel to the commuter rail tracks.
22
in the upper-right-hand corner, the commuter rail
23
tracks head toward Salem and Beverly and Newburyport.
24
The busway now sort of goes off to the right, if you
The busway goes underneath the Broadway Bridge.
As you can see
Arlington Reporting Company
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will, to the abandoned right of way, the old right of
2
way in this area.
3
path will continue to parallel that.
And, at this point, the shared-use
Again, at Highland Street, you can see
4
5
we’re going to have access directly to this what we’re
6
calling the Box District BRT Station.
7
got platforms on both sides of the tracks with access
8
not only from Highland Street, but along the shared-
9
use path you can get there from Broadway.
Again, we’ve
Again, moving easterly, we also have a
10
11
secondary access to the shared-use path from the end
12
of Library Street.
13
under the Bellingham Street Bridge, as does the
14
shared-use path.
It comes to Cottage Street where it
15
crosses at-grade.
So, at this point, the buses will
16
be at a stop condition, so they would have to stop
17
when all the Cottage Street traffic moves.
18
shared-use path moves from the right side of the
19
busway to the left side.
The busway, at this point, goes
And the
And, the project will end at the
20
21
intersection of Eastern Avenue and Central Avenue
22
where there will be a fourth BRT station here adjacent
23
to the Massport parking garage, as many of you are
24
familiar with.
In this area, you will have access
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from not only Eastern Avenue and Central Avenue, but,
2
again, from the shared-use path.
So, the stations will look kind of like
3
4
-- these are relatively a new type of design.
The
5
MBTA and MassDOT have never done this type of a bus
6
station before.
7
between a bus station and sort of a subway station if
8
you will.
You can see it’s almost a hybrid
We’ve got these large canopies.
9
The
10
station platforms are going to be essentially eight-
11
feet long.
12
And, in addition to the canopies, we’ll have the
13
shelters -- we’ll have these shelters underneath the
14
canopy as well.
15
weather, people can move to the interior shelters.
16
They will be covered by this canopy here.
So, that’s in case of inclement
The station will be equipped with
17
variable message signs that will tell you when the
18
next bus is coming.
19
circuit TV for security reasons.
20
collection systems will be at each of the stations,
21
and an emergency call back system.
22
information that’s needed, if there’s any kind of an
23
emergency, you can press a call box and you’ll be
24
immediately connected to the MBTA Transit Police.
It will be equipped with closedAutomatic fare
So, if there’s
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Three of the four stations look like
1
2
the one at Eastern Avenue.
The one that’s a little
3
bit different is the Box District.
4
this is the one station where the inbound and outbound
5
platforms are directly opposite each other.
6
able to build this canopy that actually covers the
7
entire busway.
8
little bit different.
And the reason is
So, we’re
So, again, it’s just something a
Each of the stations will have a
9
10
bicycle shelter.
You can see it’s just a covered area
11
here, and bicycles can park here.
The Box District gives you an idea of
12
13
how it will institute the shared-use path, so you can
14
get access to the station from the shared-use path.
This is a typical section of the busway
15
16
sort of between Mystic, the Mystic Mall area, and
17
Broadway, where we talked about the busway will run
18
parallel to the commuter rail tracks.
19
looking very close, we’ve got the commuter rail tracks
20
over here on the right, and the bus area in here.
21
We’ll get it as close as we can to the commuter rail
22
tracks.
23
foot-high concrete barrier with a four-foot-high fence
24
on top of it.
So, you can see
And they’re going to be separated by a four-
Arlington Reporting Company
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Once we go beyond Broadway, as we
1
2
mentioned, the busway now runs in the abandoned
3
railroad right of way.
4
shared-use path that will run parallel.
And we’ll also have the
So, again, we’ve got the busway, we’ve
5
6
got a separation area here that’s going to be
7
comprised of a vegetated swale for a stormwater
8
management environmental mitigation, and then we have
9
the shared-use path just off here.
We’ve got it
10
separated by a four-foot fence in here and various
11
landscaping along the shared-use path.
So, a key element of the entire project
12
13
is going to be the replacement of the Washington
14
Avenue Bridge.
15
functionally obsolete.
16
replacement.
The bridge has been deemed to be
So, it needs a total
There’s no way to really repair that.
As part of the repair, we’re going to
17
18
obviously work in the Silver Line Busway.
19
area at Washington Ave. where it crosses the commuter
20
rail tracks, you can see right now the existing north
21
abutment will remain in place.
22
strengthened.
23
24
So, the
It will be
The existing south abutment actually
runs right in here, so between these two buses.
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It’s
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1
obviously not wide enough to get a two-lane bus going
2
through there.
3
to be a new abutment on the south side of the busway.
4
This gives us an opportunity to get not only the
5
tracks through there, but also the busway.
The bridge is going to be constructed
6
7
in two basic stages.
Under Stage I, Washington Avenue is
8
9
So, it’s going to be -- there’s going
going to be closed for a period of time and they’ll
10
demolish half the bridge or three-quarters of the
11
bridge.
12
times.
13
But it will maintain pedestrian access at all
The Stage I is going to take
14
approximately 17 months to build.
15
not be closed for that entire time.
16
of utilities that need to be relocated.
17
relocated before any closures take place.
18
The roadway will
There’s a number
Those will be
And the reason you see sort of this
19
range of 10-and-a-half to 14 months is in a baseline
20
schedule the bridge is going to take 14 months to
21
complete that Phase I portion.
22
is incorporated into the contract what they’re calling
23
an incentive clause.
24
the bridge done, you know, three-and-a-half months
What MassDOT has done
So, if the contractor can get
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1
sooner, he gets an incentive bonus if you will.
So,
2
it’s a common practice MassDOT has done in the past in
3
a lot of previous projects.
4
And it gives not only the incentive to the contractor,
5
but an incentive to the community that the bridge is
6
not going to be closed for that whole duration.
It’s worked very well.
Under Stage II of the bridge
7
8
reconstruction, Washington Avenue will be open to one
9
lane northbound.
And there’s been a lot of
10
coordination with the City of Chelsea, and
11
particularly with the fire department, to make sure
12
that you have emergency access across Washington Ave.
13
as soon as we can.
A couple of other issues that are going
14
15
to happen with the Washington Avenue Bridge
16
reconstruction.
17
Heard Street.
18
closed for various portions, a day here, a day there.
19
It’s not like Washington Avenue.
20
There is going to be some work on
And, Heard Street will have to be
We are going to have to underpin that
21
building at 63 Washington Avenue.
22
done before they actually close Washington Avenue.
23
24
That’s going to be
And, again, we talked about a lot of
the utility work that’s going to be done, and as much
Arlington Reporting Company
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of that as we can before any bridge closures take
2
place.
And the end condition, this is very
3
4
similar to what you have out there now.
You’ve got
5
two travel lanes.
6
a parking lane on the other side.
7
have brand new widened sidewalks on both sides of
8
Washington Avenue.
You’ve got a shoulder on one side,
And we’re going to
Phase II work, I just want to touch
9
10
briefly on that even though this is primarily a Stage
11
I, or Phase I, discussion.
Phase II work, again, involves
12
13
construction of a new commuter rail station.
It’s
14
going to be constructed behind Market Basket off of
15
Everett Avenue.
16
If you look at some of the new commuter rail stations,
17
when they -- every time they rebuild a commuter rail
18
station, it’s done to the latest design standards and
19
accessibility standards.
20
designed to ADA compliance and the Massachusetts
21
Architectural Access Board regulations.
It’s going to be an updated station.
So, it’s going to be
So, it’s going to be accessible to all
22
23
users.
That includes full high-level platforms.
24
You’ll have a lot of the same amenities that we talked
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about for the BRT stations.
2
variable message signs.
3
and so forth.
You’ll have automatic
It will have these call boxes
This just gives you sort of an idea to
4
5
orient you.
Here’s Everett Avenue over here, that
6
last Mystic Mall Station that we talked about.
So, the station runs from Everett, 800
7
8
feet to the west.
9
here.
So, the new platforms will be in
There will be a secondary access to
10
11
Third Street.
12
building permit requirements.
13
This is more to accommodate safety and
And, finally, the shared-use path.
I
14
think we talked about this is being designed in close
15
coordination with the City and with EOEEA.
16
three-quarters of a mile long.
17
Street and ends at Eastern Avenue.
18
access from Chestnut Street.
19
Highland, Library, Cottage, and then down at Eastern.
20
These are some key dates just to bring
21
22
23
24
It’s about
It starts at Chestnut
And there will be
We talked about
you to how we got to Joe mentioned the 10 months.
So, we started with the Environmental
Notification Form filed with MEPA back last fall.
The Secretary issued a certificate on
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1
that document at the end of last year, at which point
2
we geared up into not only the design, but the final
3
Environmental Impact Report.
4
Impact Report and design were going on concurrently.
5
That was filed on March 31st.
The next day, April 1st, we had the
6
7
Design Public Hearing.
Most of you were here then.
The Secretary issued a certificate on
8
9
So, the Environmental
that Final EIR in May, which allowed us to complete
10
the design and get it back to advertise for
11
construction on July 19th.
12
Again, we talked about the bid opening
13
in mid to late September, and award notice to proceed
14
later this year with construction starting early
15
spring next year.
So, that ends the PowerPoint
16
17
presentation, and we’d be happy to entertain any
18
questions.
19
MODERATOR PAVAO:
20
want to go back to that Stage I for one second.
21
FRANK ASTONE:
22
MODERATOR PAVAO:
23
24
yeah.
Just one thing.
I
On the -The bridge closure,
Right here.
So, I just want to clarify something
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because, in the past, the last meeting, I had
2
mentioned that when we close the bridge, we’re not
3
going to close the bridge until all the utility work
4
that can be done is complete.
5
provisions that reflected that.
And we had special
We have since lifted that.
6
And the
7
reason for that is if I require that all the utilities
8
are complete, I don’t know when that date is going to
9
occur.
And what could happen is I’m locking the
10
contractor as to when he can actually close the bridge
11
when I’ve given him 12 months.
12
going to leave it to the contractor to take that 12-
13
month window and slide it any time he wants throughout
14
the project.
By lifting that, I am
There’s a couple of advantages to that.
15
16
One is he can do the utilities while the bridge is
17
closed and maximize his work space.
By the way, there will always be a
18
19
sidewalk open.
When I say a bridge closure, there’s
20
always a sidewalk open to pedestrian traffic.
But the other reason is we’re
21
22
incentivizing and disincentivizing that 12-month
23
window.
24
they’re going to get a monetary incentive.
So, for every day less than 12 months,
Arlington Reporting Company
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Any day
23
1
over 12 months, they’re going to get a disincentive.
2
The other advantage to that is MassDOT
3
is also putting out the Winthrop Ave. Bridge over the
4
MBTA.
5
occur at the commuter rail for that project.
6
leaving this 12-month window flexible for the
7
contractor, he’s going to be able to better align that
8
with the Winthrop Ave. Bridge closure.
9
them flexibility to be able to piggyback the weekends,
There’s weekend closures that are going to
By
So, it gives
10
have less cost aversions, and less impacts to
11
commuters.
So, the goal is to keep it to 12 months
12
13
or less, which we’re still going to do.
We’re still
14
committing to that.
15
contractor be able to move that 12-month window so
16
that he can put out a construction schedule that’s
17
going to align with hopefully Winthrop Ave. and the
18
utility work.
But we’re going to let the
So, that was one of the changes from
19
20
the last meeting that we had that I just wanted to
21
clarify.
22
The other thing I wanted to mention
23
real quick, just some housekeeping.
We have Joe
24
Sakelos from Arlington Typing and Mailing who is doing
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1
a verbatim transcript of tonight’s meeting.
If
2
anybody didn’t sign in on the way in, please sign out
3
on the way out so that we can have a record.
4
And, if you’re going to speak tonight,
5
we ask you to please use the microphone so we can get
6
everybody on the recording.
7
STENOGRAPHER:
8
MODERATOR PAVAO:
9
This microphone.
This microphone he
said.
Are there any elected officials that
10
11
would like to speak before we open it up to the
12
general public?
13
(No response.)
14
MODERATOR PAVAO:
So, we’ll open it up
15
to any questions, comments, anybody may have.
16
raise your hand and we’ll -- sure, please step up.
JOHN LENTHALL:
17
18
21
My question is about
the buses that -STENOGRAPHER:
19
20
Just
What is your name,
please?
JOHN LENTHALL:
John Lenthall.
I’m
22
actually from Dorchester, Mass., but I’m a big transit
23
fan so I’m here to comment.
24
I have a question.
At the bridge
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1
closure at the relocation of the Chelsea commuter rail
2
station to behind the major shopping center, will
3
there be permanent MBTA bus relocations or re-routes
4
resulting from this project?
MODERATOR PAVAO:
5
6
Are you talking about
the local bus?
7
JOHN LENTHALL:
8
MODERATOR PAVAO:
9
JOHN LENGHALL:
MODERATOR PAVAO:
10
The local bus.
The 111, for example?
Yeah, the 111.
I don’t think there
11
are any proposed changes to the local buses.
12
bridge is closed, there will be some detours so the
13
bus 111 obviously will be detoured during
14
construction.
15
Phase II will come in to put the new commuter rail
16
station in.
17
the other buses that would operate through Chelsea, I
18
don’t think there’s any plans as part of this project
19
to re-route any of those buses.
20
that, you know, if the T determines that, you know,
21
patterns have changed and there’s demand, that’s
22
certainly something the T would look at and try to
23
optimize the buses, the bus routes.
24
When the
But, after we’re done with Phase I,
But the local streets, the bus 111 and
JOHN LENTHALL:
But that’s something
Thank you.
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JOE DORANT:
1
Hello.
My name is Joe
2
Dorant.
I’m president of MOSES, the Mass.
3
Organization of State Engineers and Scientists.
4
represent 3,400 scientists and engineers that work
5
throughout the state of Massachusetts.
6
them work at the MWRA, and about half of the members,
7
about 150, work at the facility at 2 Griffin Way,
8
which is feet away from Box Station.
I
About 303 of
However, we’re told that there won’t be
9
10
access on the north side of that project.
And it’s
11
very discouraging because many of our members do use
12
public transportation to get to work.
13
very beneficial if you could work on something where
14
they could get off at a stop at Box Street and just
15
make their way to the station.
And it would be
In total, there’s about 560 people that
16
17
work at that facility.
So, it would be real
18
beneficial, like I said.
19
Board of Director from MWRA, Pat Russell, give you a
20
few more details.
And I’m going to have my
21
Thank you.
22
PAT RUSSELL:
23
I would like to mention an additional
24
thing.
Thank you.
If you look at --
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1
STENOGRAPHER:
Name, please.
2
PAT RUSSELL:
3
If you look at the end of Library
Oh, sorry.
Pat Russell.
4
Street, if you could go one slide, there is if you
5
look at the end of Library Street as it goes towards
6
Griffin Way, there is a footpath, a well worn footpath
7
along that way.
8
project, we spoke to a lot of the people in the
9
neighborhood.
And as you guys got ready to do this
And they use that right of way.
And
10
they were -- us, as well as them, were wondering if
11
you were going to put any kind of walkway across
12
there, any kind of crosswalk across there, because the
13
fence line from Box District Station to Eastern Ave.
14
there’s no access to the north side.
15
need to put a fence there, but, in speaking to that --
16
last week, one of our members spoke to some people in
17
the community and they said, “We’re not really
18
concerned.
19
kind of, you know, counterproductive to it.
20
I understand you
We’ll just cut the fence.”
So, that’s
But I would like to mention -- I mean I
21
can show you photos.
There are -- it’s been used for
22
quite a number of years.
23
almost 15 years.
24
Library Street, right across the old CSX yard.
I’ve been at the facility
And, I, myself, have gone down
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So, I
28
1
think it’s something you should look into as well as
2
access to the Chelsea MWRA facility, which we all have
3
our own access key cards to get in.
4
secure facility.
5
where our people could get in securely.
I’m sure we could work out something
MODERATOR PAVAO:
6
It’s a very
So, to understand
7
your question, there was a crossing that was requested
8
at Library Street at one point.
9
two different locations.
We’re talking about
10
PAT RUSSELL:
11
MODERATOR PAVAO:
12
We’re talking about -Crossing on Library
Street.
13
PAT RUSSELL:
Right.
14
MODERATOR PAVAO:
15
PAT RUSSELL:
16
MODERATOR PAVAO:
And then access.
Access.
Right.
So, the crossing at
17
Library Street is something that we had initially
18
discussed and looked at.
19
sight distance and safety at that location because
20
buses would be coming at full speed as they’re
21
approaching the first stop in the Box District.
22
it was more a comfort level for us.
23
that was going to be a safe location for it.
24
to say it can’t be looked at.
There were concerns about
So,
We didn’t think
It’s not
I know John is going to
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1
be working on Phase II.
It’s still the same design
2
consultants working on it.
3
have some discussion on that.
4
think would probably have to be signalized in order to
5
make it safe.
6
initially look at to do that.
7
that we weren’t going to be incorporating as part of
8
Phase I, which is what we just advertised.
9
not to say discussions can’t be ongoing with them.
So, we can continue to
It’s something that I
And there were some plans that we did
But it was something
But it’s
As far as the access from the MWRA
10
11
facility directly to the Box District, this is all
12
MassDOT right of way right now.
13
this project, we’re going to be turning it over to the
14
MBTA.
15
of way is concerned there are issues with security,
16
access onto the MBTA property, as well as, you know,
17
security with MWRA and making the access so that it’s
18
accessible for the MWRA employees, but not vice versa.
19
We don’t want the public walking through the lot also.
When we’re done with
And we’re all one agency, but as far as right
So, that is something that we’ll just
20
21
have to discuss as part of Phase II.
22
John will have to discuss with you as part of Phase
23
II.
24
I should say
Sorry, John.
But, there was also access about the
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1
emergency gate.
And I don’t know if we -PAT RUSSELL:
2
Yeah, I think that’s up
3
to the MWRA and the emergency gate side of it.
But I
4
do understand that you guys are -- you’re on a time
5
schedule and all that.
6
you’d look into it down the road.
But I would appreciate it if
Obviously, we’ve been there for coming
7
8
on 15 years.
9
And, you know, the Library Street thing is mostly for
10
And we’re a good neighbor to Chelsea.
the neighborhood.
11
MODERATOR PAVAO:
12
PAT RUSSELL:
Sure.
I would hate to see you
13
guys get into a situation where somebody does get hurt
14
there.
And we do have a shuttle service that
15
16
brings us into Chelsea.
But there are a number of
17
people who walk from Chelsea Center, the 111 bus, down
18
Library Street into our facilities.
19
used it myself many times.
You know, I’ve
20
But, thank you for listening.
21
MODERATOR PAVAO:
22
Would anyone else like to speak?
23
BOB CAMERON:
24
Cameron.
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Bob
I’m representing Chelsea Fire this evening.
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And I have three topics I wanted to speak about.
2
The first was I’d like to thank DOT for
3
partnering with us on the bridge closure aspect of it.
4
I know you negotiated an arrangement with the City
5
Manager, and thank you for doing that.
One of the slides that we had concerned
6
7
the traffic issues down at Arlington and Sixth.
And
8
on that issue, I’d just like to say if there are any
9
islands as part of that, for the maneuverability of
10
our apparatus, which is quite sizeable, and that is a
11
tight area down there, we’d ask that the islands not
12
be actual islands, that they be embedded rumble strip
13
or imprinted, whichever, and we’re hoping that will be
14
considered certainly.
15
And the other issue is just water
16
access along, you know, portions of the pathway.
17
want to make sure that we’ll be able to provide
18
adequate water in the event of an emergency in the
19
area.
20
We
So, access and water availability.
You know, I don’t know if they
21
considered a standpipe for any portions of it, or, you
22
know, but some type.
23
speaking previous to me, there are not -- it’s not
24
heavily -- there’s not an abundance of water supply
Like that area, the gentleman
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1
down there.
And in the case of an emergency, we don’t
2
want to have long stretches of LAR hose to handle the
3
emergency.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
4
That’s one of the
5
things that we actually -- I talked to Frank at AECOM.
6
And he actually came up with a plot of the area.
7
from anywhere along the proposed Silver Line, there’s
8
a hydrant within 500 feet.
BOB CAMERON:
9
11
those.
12
800, Frank?
FRANK ASTONE:
Actually, it’s more --
it’s closer to 200 feet.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
15
16
So he plotted all
There’s one location, I believe, where it’s
13
14
Okay.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
10
And
200.
Oh, it’s closer to
Even better.
FRANK ASTONE:
17
Yeah, right.
I think
18
Bellingham Street was the only one that we did exceed
19
it.
BOB CAMERON:
20
21
Yeah, we’d want to shy
away from eight.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
22
Yeah, I think there’s
23
only one location from here that this is limited
24
access.
We didn’t think there was a need to, you
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1
know, go in and install water and hydrants for one
2
specific location on the entire Silver Line.
3
BOB CAMERON:
Yeah.
4
MODERATOR PAVAO:
And it’s limited
5
access.
It’s only going to be the buses.
6
looking at the odds of a bus breaking down right at
7
that section and catching fire.
8
BOB CAMERON:
Yeah.
9
MODERATOR PAVAO:
10
BOB CAMERON:
11
MODERATOR PAVAO:
12
access.
So, we’re
Yeah.
It’s pretty slim.
Yeah.
And there’s still
It’s just going to be a longer distance.
BOB CAMERON:
13
Unfortunately, we can’t -
14
- we can’t schedule our emergencies, you know.
15
MODERATOR PAVAO:
16
Sure.
I agree.
I
agree.
17
BOB CAMERON:
Okay.
18
MODERATOR PAVAO:
19
Yes, sir?
20
JOHN VITAGLIANO:
Thanks very much.
You’re welcome.
Good evening.
My
21
name is John Vitagliano.
I live in the Town of
22
Winthrop.
23
hearing on the subject, and I’m totally supportive of
24
the project.
I’ve appeared at the first and second
I think it’s a terrific addition not
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1
only for the City of Chelsea, but also for my town of
2
Winthrop because of the significantly increased access
3
from the Town of Winthrop to the Seaport District via
4
the Blue Line from the Airport Station.
5
to go on record again, reminding you to help deliver
6
that as soon as possible.
And I wanted
7
I had a meeting this afternoon with Jim
8
McKenna, the Town of Winthrop’s Town Manager, to brief
9
him on this subject.
And he is going to be sending
10
you a letter of support officially from the Town of
11
Winthrop just to let you know.
12
enough time to work with Jim to get that letter on
13
record for tonight.
14
possible.
15
16
But I did not have
But we will do so as soon as
MODERATOR PAVAO:
Thank you.
Appreciate it very much.
17
JOHN VITAGLIANO:
Thank you very much.
18
MODERATOR PAVAO:
Yes, sir?
19
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
20
21
Thank you.
Manuel Strassburger, 77 Washington Avenue.
I came to this meeting thinking that we
22
were going to have some more of the local impact to
23
our neighborhoods.
24
there’s maps out there.
I haven’t heard anything.
I know
I’m not too sure whether this
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1
is the correct meeting to be.
2
in our neighborhoods, if you can -MODERATOR PAVAO:
3
4
Are you talking about
during construction specifically?
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
5
6
But what is the impact
During
construction at least, yes, sir.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
7
Well, during
8
construction, as Frank mentioned earlier on, we are
9
going to be closing the bridge.
10
So, when the bridge
is closed we will be detouring Bus 111.
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
11
Well, I
12
understand that.
But the closures and the
13
construction equipment, there’s going to be a lot of
14
stuff in our neighborhoods.
15
Washington Avenue --
Like I said, I live at 77
16
MODERATOR PAVAO:
Yes.
17
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
-- which is right
18
next to the bridge.
19
government.
20
and they say they’re going to take some property for
21
the construction.
22
Nobody seems to know what it’s supposed to be.
23
I’m just wondering if I may be at the wrong meeting.
24
I spoke to some people from the
They come over for me to sign something
So, I don’t know what that entails.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
Whereabouts?
Arlington Reporting Company
(339)674-9100
So,
77
36
1
Washington Ave.?
2
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
3
MODERATOR PAVAO:
4
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
On the north
side.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
7
8
So you’re on the
south side of the bridge?
5
6
Yes, sir.
On the north side of
the bridge?
9
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
10
there was going to have construction and they were
11
going to take a portion of the land, and I don’t know
12
why.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
13
Yes.
I was told
I don’t know of any
14
area on the north side of the bridge where we’re
15
taking any permanent land.
16
temporary easements so they can work.
What they may be is some
17
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
18
MODERATOR PAVAO:
That may -- yes.
Any easements that we
19
take during construction are strictly so the
20
contractor can do the work.
21
for them to stockpile material, park their vehicles,
22
things like that.
23
do some work.
24
We don’t take easements
It’s just going to be to physically
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
Well, that’s what
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37
1
I would like to understand, what they’re taking the
2
easement for.
3
MODERATOR PAVAO:
All right.
4
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
If they’re going
5
to provide areas for us to park or what they’re taking
6
from us.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
7
8
If they’re impacting
your driveway for parking -MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
9
MODERATOR PAVAO:
10
Yes.
-- then they will
11
provide alternative parking for you.
They’ll be
12
required to do that.
13
contacting anybody that’s affected by whether it’s a
14
temporary easement or a permanent taking in this
15
project.
16
speak to you about exactly what the contract is doing,
17
how long we’re going to be occupying your particular
18
area, and what your compensation may be, what the
19
mitigation --
Our Right of Way Bureau will be
They will reach out to you individually and
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
20
Do you have any
21
idea when that meeting is going to occur for the
22
residents?
MODERATOR PAVAO:
23
24
per se.
It won’t be a meeting
The Right of Way Division will come out and
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1
they’ll call you individually.
So, if they’re taking
2
any right of way from you, even if it’s temporary just
3
to do a specific portion of the work, they’re going to
4
call you specifically, come out on site to meet with
5
you.
6
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
7
don’t have the kind of information.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
8
9
time.
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
11
MODERATOR PAVAO:
list now of all the properties that are impacted.
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
14
MODERATOR PAVAO:
16
That is fine.
They go through that
13
15
So you
I don’t have the
10
12
Okay.
Okay.
And they’re going to
contact you.
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
One second thing
17
I have, and a lot of the residents in our area, from
18
the last time they did construction on Washington
19
Avenue -- I know it’s not you, but it’s mostly the
20
City of Chelsea -- we were left over with a big
21
problem of rodents and rats --
22
MODERATOR PAVAO:
23
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
24
Okay.
-- which we’re
still fighting every day, every night.
Arlington Reporting Company
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I know you
39
1
probably don’t have an answer for it, but it is
2
something to, you know, to be maybe helping the
3
community.
4
displacement of those animals.
5
get them every night.
6
aware of it.
7
and nothing really has happened and I feel I have to -
8
- so I figure I’d just vent that.
9
you guys.
I know that there’s going to be a lot of
But we as the -- we
I don’t know if Jay Ash is
I have made aware that to our Councilman
MODERATOR PAVAO:
10
I know it’s not to
Well, we have items
11
in our contract for rodent control.
12
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
13
MODERATOR PAVAO:
Yes.
So that’s something
14
that we can have our resident engineer, within the
15
areas of our project, we can put bait out and try to
16
mitigate some of that.
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
17
18
appreciated from the neighbors.
19
MODERATOR PAVAO:
20
MANUEL STRASSBURGER:
21
MODERATOR PAVAO:
22
like to speak?
24
Steinberg.
Okay.
Thank you.
Would anyone else
Go ahead.
BARRY STEINBERG:
23
It would be
Hi.
My name is Barry
I don’t live in the area, but I have a few
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1
more questions.
When you talk about automatic fare
2
3
collection, does that mean -- what does that mean?
4
FRANK ASTONE:
5
CharlieCard system that’s been implemented.
6
know, John, if you want to speak to this?
BARRY STEINBERG:
7
8
buses?
9
at the stations?
12
13
14
I don’t
Not on -- not on the
It will be on the -- you’re saying it will be
FRANK ASTONE:
10
11
It’s basically the
At the stations,
correct.
BARRY STEINBERG:
So you will not pay
on the bus at all?
JOHN MCCORMACK:
Sir, it will be like
15
the Silver Line runs now on Washington to Dudley where
16
we have validators.
17
pay your fare ahead of time for the bus, which will
18
help boarding times, particularly on the rear door.
19
And, other than that, it’s just like any other bus
20
with the automatic fare collections at the station
21
right there where you tap your card or pay by cash.
Those validators’ purpose is to
22
BARRY STEINBERG:
Another question.
23
What will be the carrying capacity of the line?
24
Compare that to part of the Green Line.
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41
JOHN MCCORMACK:
1
2
the -BARRY STEINBERG:
3
4
I don’t have to know
exact numbers, but -JOHN MCCORMACK:
5
6
I don’t know exactly
The capacity of a 60-
foot Silver Line bus -BARRY STEINBERG:
7
No, no, I mean the
8
line itself as opposed to how many buses can be on the
9
line at the same time.
JOHN MCCORMACK:
10
11
I don’t have an answer
for that, but I can definitely find out for you.
FRANK ASTONE:
12
I think the current
13
schedule is to have buses with 10- to 12-minute
14
headways.
15
-- five or six buses an hour in and outbound.
So, you would get five or six -- I’m sorry
BARRY STEINBERG:
16
17
18
19
20
What if the line is
too successful?
FRANK ASTONE:
could handle it.
And they need more?
It
The service itself could handle it.
BARRY STEINBERG:
Now, this would feed
21
into the existing Silver Line that goes through the
22
tunnel to South Station?
23
JOHN MCCORMACK:
24
FRANK ASTONE:
Correct.
Yes and no.
Arlington Reporting Company
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It’s
42
1
actually a separate service.
The current Silver Line
2
service goes from South Station/Seaport through the
3
Ted Williams Tunnel and then goes to the Airport
4
terminals.
It does not stop at Airport Station.
This Silver Line service will, again,
5
6
start at South Station/Seaport, through the Tunnel, go
7
directly to Airport Station, and then to the City of
8
Chelsea.
9
BARRY STEINBERG:
10
possibility that this could be oversubscribed?
11
other words, you may have a problem with just too many
12
vehicles trying to fit through there.
13
FRANK ASTONE:
14
BARRY STEINBERG:
15
In
Through?
Through the bus
terminals.
FRANK ASTONE:
16
17
And is there a
I’m sorry.
Say that
again.
18
BARRY STEINBERG:
19
there’s just too many passengers for the line?
FRANK ASTONE:
20
What happens if
Well, they, as we said,
21
right now they’re looking at 10- or 12-minute
22
headways.
23
to this, there was CTS analysis.
24
riders a day on this line, which is where they came up
I don’t know, Scott, if you want to speak
They predicted 8,700
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1
with that headway.
If you’re saying all of a sudden
2
we’re at 10,000 or 11,000 and they needed to add a
3
bus, they could do that.
SCOTT HAMWEY:
4
Yeah, just on that a
5
couple of things, one on your earlier question on the
6
fare collection system.
7
boarding.
It would be all-door
So, at all of the stations --
8
AUDIENCE:
Say it again.
9
SCOTT HAMWEY:
At all of the stations
10
in Chelsea, all doors will open.
11
already been validated.
12
tapped their card at the fare validator to get a
13
receipt.
14
doors of vehicles.
15
People will have
People will have already
So, people will be able to board all three
On the question of capacity, there’s a
16
sort of near-term constraint on how many vehicles we
17
can have operating on the line because we’re using the
18
same dual-mode articulated buses that we’re required
19
to use in the Seaport tunnel.
20
eight of them available to run this service when the
21
service starts, and that will be enough to get that
22
10-minute headway that Frank was talking about.
23
need more than every 10 minutes, it’s probably going
24
to need to wait a couple more years until we replace
We think we have about
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the existing dual-mode articulated fleet on the Silver
2
Line.
3
in the Back Bay anyway.
4
take a little while for the ridership to build up to
5
the point where the 10-minute headway wouldn’t be
6
adequate.
Those vehicles are going to need to be replaced
BARRY STEINBERG:
7
8
And it is probably going to
How are the people in
Chelsea receiving this?
SCOTT HAMWEY:
9
Well, I’d ask Joe.
I
10
mean everything is pretty -- all the comments we got
11
were pretty positive during the planning phase.
12
think my sense is they’ve still been pretty positive.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
13
I
We haven’t had hardly
14
any negative comments, if any, on this entire project.
15
It’s been a very positive -- very positive project to
16
date.
17
information meetings.
18
City.
19
hearing on this project.
20
minutes are on our website.
21
those.
22
project.
We’ve had several meetings, several public
We’ve met regularly with the
And we’ve had a public hearing, a design public
And we have all the meeting
You are welcome to read
But we haven’t any negative comments on this
23
BARRY STEINBERG:
Do you think there
24
would be any possibility that if the line gets
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1
oversubscribed that it would have to be converted to
2
rail?
MODERATOR PAVAO:
3
No, I don’t think
4
there’s any possibility of that.
I don’t think we
5
could support that, converting this to rail.
6
just have to find a way to add more buses as time and
7
money permits in the future.
8
BARRY STEINBERG:
Thank you.
9
MODERATOR PAVAO:
Thank you.
10
Yes, sir?
11
COUNCILOR GIOVANNI RECUPERO:
We would
Good
12
evening.
I’m City Councilor Giovanni Recupero.
13
just have one question to what the gentleman said
14
earlier.
15
going to come out.
16
take care of the rats?
17
with the rat problem?
I
When you start digging up, the rats are
Do you have a contingency plan to
Are you going to help the City
MODERATOR PAVAO:
18
As we said, we have
19
items in our contract for baiting, for rodent control.
20
That’s -COUNCILOR GIOVANNI RECUPERO:
21
They bait a lot.
The City
22
already baits.
But once you start
23
digging up, there’s going to be even a more massive
24
problem with rats.
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MODERATOR PAVAO:
2
COUNCILOR GIOVANNI RECUPERO:
3
takes care of that.
4
know.
Right.
We do the best we can with, you
5
MODERATOR PAVAO:
6
COUNCILOR GIOVANNI RECUPERO:
7
MODERATOR PAVAO:
That’s something that
COUNCILOR GIOVANNI RECUPERO:
Thank
you.
MODERATOR PAVAO:
12
13
But do
we would certainly be willing to do, yes.
10
11
Sure.
you intend to help us with the problem?
8
9
Our City
Would anyone else
like to speak?
14
(No response.)
15
MODERATOR PAVAO:
If nobody else has
16
any comments, I want to thank everybody for coming,
17
and just remind you to sign out.
18
in on the way in, please do so on the way out.
If you didn’t sign
19
Thank you, everyone.
20
(Applause.)
21
(Whereupon, the proceedings were
22
concluded at 6:47 p.m.)
23
//
24
//
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C E R T I F I C A T E
I, Judith A. Luciano, do hereby certify that
the foregoing record is a true and accurate
transcription of the proceedings in the abovecaptioned matter to the best of my skill and ability.
_______________________
Judith A. Luciano
** ALL NAMES NOT PROVIDED WERE SPELLED PHONETICALLY TO
THE BEST OF MY ABILITY
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