MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION – OFFICE OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING URBAN RING CORRIDOR PLANNING CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE – MINUTES OF MEETING LOCATION OF MEETING: State Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza, Boston DATE/TIME OF MEETING: CAC Meeting – July 13, 2010, 4:00­6:00 PM CAC MEMBERS/ALTERNATES: Joe Beggan, Harvard University Kelley Brown, MIT Bill Gasper, TransComm/BU Medical Center Sarah Hamilton, MASCO Jeff Levine, Brookline Planning & Community Development Thomas Nally, A Better City Aditi Pain, University of Massachusetts Boston Susanne Rasmussen, Cambridge Community Development Jeff Rosenblum, City of Cambridge Tad Read, Boston Redevelopment Authority James Shaer, Boston University Karen Wepsic, On the Move/MBTA Rider Oversight Committee Wig Zamore, Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP) MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Scott Hamwey, Office of Transportation Planning AGENCY/PUBLIC: Rick Bourre, EEA/MEPA Paul Christner, Massport Joe Cosgrove, MBTA Jay Doyle, AECOM Liam Holland Romin Koebel, Fenway CDC Robert LaTremouille, FOWG Craig Leiner, Massport Jeff Maxtutis, AECOM Archie Mazmanian, Brookline Cottage Farm Steve Silveira, MC Strategies Jack Slaten, ULI Barry Steinberg, Association for Public Transportation HANDOUTS: � Meeting Agenda � EOEEA Letter to MEPA, June 22, 2010 � Urban Ring Progress Summary � Maps of new CSX assets/rights part of the June 11 closing MassDOT Planning Page 1 of 4 Summary of CAC Meeting July 13, 2010 General Process Issues Tom Nally asked for nominations for a new chair of the Compact Communities, and Susanne Rasmussen nominated Tad Read. The group approved the nomination of Mr. Read. Mr. Nally then suggested the Compact meet on a quarterly basis going forward, with the option to extend the time between meetings or call an earlier meeting should the pace of Urban Ring initiatives call for it. Scott Hamwey announced that the next CAC meeting was tentatively scheduled for October 13. Mr. Nally also noted that he and Mr. Read would plan on meeting with Mr. Hamwey on a monthly basis. He also announced that he would be coordinating with the group on comments for the Federal Transportation Authority’s new rules on evaluating cost effectiveness. Review of the June 22 letter from EOEEA to MassDOT Rick Bourre, MEPA, reviewed the key points from the June 22, 2010 letter from EOEEA to MassDOT: • Agreement with MassDOT’s decision to suspend MEPA rather than withdraw the project from MEPA • Some early action items may go forward with MEPA review (either an NPC or EIR) • Other early action items may not require further MEPA review (those with independent utility that do not exceed MEPA thresholds on their own). In both of these cases MassDOT will submit a request for an advisory opinion from MEPA. • The preservation of the Urban Ring alignment will be a concern of MEPA for those unrelated development projects that undergo MEPA review, but that the Compact municipalities with their oversight of land use decisions within their communities will have the most responsibility with regard to preserving the right of way. Mr. Read asked whether the Urban Ring was viewed by MEPA as a “real project.” Mr. Bourre said that it was. In response to questions about the preservation of some of the more specific features of the alignment (for example, the actual width and configuration of bus lanes along the LPA), Mr. Hamwey said that it was his understanding that the LPA as defined in the November 2008 RDEIR/S was the product of consensus and that more specific details had not been similarly vetted. Archie Mazmanian said that although there may have been consensus within the room for the alignment, there was not consensus among the public in favor of the LPA alignment. Mr. Bourre said that MEPA would use the LPA in the RDEIR as its guide and that to the extent that MassDOT wants to put forward a redefinition of the LPA it should do so through a NPC. Overview of the CSX Purchase Mr. Hamwey distributed a series of maps identifying the assets and rights purchased by the Commonwealth from CSX on June 11. Wig Zamore asked for the map to be made available electronically. Mr. Hamwey said it would be cleaned up and posted on the Urban Ring website once that site is hosted by MassDOT. Susanne Rasmussen stressed that the purchase in many places, including Cambridge, was of rights not land, and that the map should be labeled appropriately. In response to a question about commuter rail revenue service use of the Grand Junction, Mr. Hamwey said there would be no new service on the line in the immediate future, while acknowledging that the acquisition of this asset makes new connections to North Station possible. He also indicated that the Commonwealth did not purchase the asset to not make use of it. MassDOT Planning Page 2 of 4 Summary of CAC Meeting July 13, 2010 Overview of CTPS Silver Line Extension scope Mr. Hamwey reviewed the scope of work for a CTPS study to examine an extension of the Silver Line from the Airport into Chelsea. Under one of the proposed scenarios, a new Silver Line branch would travel from South Station via the South Boston Silver Line tunnel and Williams Tunnel to Airport station before continuing on to Chelsea via the East Boston Haul Road. This service could be run with the existing fleet. Mr. Hamwey stated that this project would improve transit service within this section of the Urban Ring corridor. Wig Zamore, Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP), requested that MassDOT supply more detailed graphics related to any business on the agenda in advance whenever possible. Mr. Hamwey agreed that the figures included in the materials did not include depictions of the proposed new transit service and agreed to supply information in advance whenever possible. Massport update on East Boston Haul Road Craig Leiner, Massport, presented 25% design drawings of the East Boston Haul Road. He described the process that led to a modified alignment as compared to the one that had been traditionally associated with the Haul Road. The new alignment would rejoin Chelsea Street a few blocks south of the Chelsea Street Bridge, at the location of a paper street known as Beck Street. The reason for the change is it avoids the need for a taking, and prevents potentially dangerous southbound queuing of vehicles entering the Haul Road. Mr. Hamwey noted that a side benefit is that southbound Route 1A vehicles would be less likely to use the Haul Road as it would require two left turns at the new location as opposed to two right turns. Mr. Leiner emphasized that Massport, while working with MassDOT on the transit component of the Haul Road, was planning to approach environmental review of the project as an airport access road. The environmental review would not evaluate the various types of transit operations that could be introduced along the corridor. Massport also responded to questions about the environmentally­sensitive components of the road’s design. Mr. Zamore asked if the Haul Road would be able to accommodate conversion to rail transit in the future. Mr. Leiner said it was being designed as a road and not to accommodate trains. Mr. Zamore expressed concerns that this was not consistent with the MIS Phase 3 vision of the Urban Ring. Mr. Nally noted that the Phase 3 vision did not include rail in this segment. CTPS update on Silver Line to Chelsea Study Mr. Hamwey explained that, although they had hoped to have ridership results for the three alternatives being evaluated by CTPS, those results were not yet ready. He said he would share those results with the CAC once he receives them from CTPS and can report on the results at the next CAC meeting. Update on Parcel 7/Yawkey Station projects Joe Cosgrove provided a brief update on the redevelopment of Parcel 7 adjacent to Yawkey Station, as well as the reconstruction schedule for the commuter rail station. Other Issues Mr. Nally announced that the Federal Transit Administration was seeking comments on its new cost effectiveness metric. Mr. Mazmanian asked why EOEEA took five months to respond to MassDOT’s letter suspending further environmental review of the Urban Ring. MassDOT Planning Page 3 of 4 Summary of CAC Meeting July 13, 2010 Romin Koebel suggested that the group may want to consider a presentation at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 PM. MassDOT Planning Page 4 of 4