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One Schroeder Plaza, Boston, MA 02120-2014
Boston Police Department Statement of Hazardous Truck Routing through Boston
The tragic events of September 11th changed the way public safety agencies do business. Law
enforcement officers exercise heightened diligence every day to prevent, prepare for, and respond to
major incidents and events.
Paramount to our homeland security efforts is protecting our critical infrastructure - hospitals, schools,
public administration buildings, historical areas, tourist locations as well as residential areas. After 9/11,
public safety agencies were tasked with identifying critical infrastructure located in their city/town and
conducting target hardening assessments of that infrastructure. The City of Boston serves as the New
England region's economic engine, cultural historical center, top visitor destination, federal
administrative center and the state's capital city. Boston is home to a multitude of key assets: one of
the nation's busiest airports, a liquefied natural gas storage facility, items of national heritage and some
of the world's leading educational and medical centers. During a normal workday, the City of Boston's
population swells from 589,000 to an estimated 1.2 million from commuters and shoppers.
The Boston Police Department continually develops and assesses risk management strategies to
enhance our ability to prevent and respond effectively to all levels of threat. Our officers remain vigilant
in identifying any unsafe conditions that could pose a potential risk to those who live, work and visit our
city. It is through our commitment to public safety that we are greatly concerned about the hazardous
materials that are being transported through our neighborhoods and city streets. Many members of the
trucking industry continue to travel through Boston while having no delivery destination in the city
limits. This is because it is cheaper, quicker and more convenient for the operators. However, these
routes are located in densely populated, highly congested areas of the city and should an incident arise
our tactical options become severely limited. In addition, critical incident training dictates that
prevention is key in situations where hazards and risk assessments indicate that police, fire, and EMS
response would be severely hampered should an event occur.
To address this concern, we are focusing our enforcement efforts throughout the City on hazardous
material trucking routes located in the City of Boston. This has resulted in numerous motor vehicle
safety violations with 50% of trucks that were noncompliant being taken off of the road to date.
However, enforcement is only one tool. Prevention of incidents is key. The designation of appropriate
routes for hazmat trucks to avoid congested city streets where accidents rates are higher and population
exposures along the routes are much greater is the best strategy for enhancing overall public safety.
The proposed route for these hazmat trucks to bypass downtown Boston dramatically enhances public
safety and minimizes the risk of an incident.
Boston is known for being a very hospitable city; yet we can no longer afford to tolerate this cut through
transport of hazardous materials in the downtown Boston because of the potential harm that could be
inflicted upon our infrastructure, visitors, residents and businesses. As outlined in the Battelle Hazmat
Route Evaluation report, the current hazardous cargo route in Boston has been identified to have a
significantly higher risk ratio when compared to the interstate highway system that is located outside of
Mayor Thomas M. Menino • Commissioner Edward F. Davis
the City. The study found that the current route through Boston presents four times the risk to the
general public than the proposed alternative route during the day and more than twice the risk during
the nighttime.
It is time for Massachusetts to adopt Mayor Menino's petition to designate a new non-radioactive
hazardous material route requiring that vehicles with no delivery destination within the city limits travel
around Boston and utilize the interstate highway system which was designed and built to handle such
traffic.