BOSTON- CONSTRUCTION OF NEW PARKING FACILITY, LOT 5 LOCATED UNDER I-93, BETWEEN ALBANY STREET, TRAVELER STREET, AND FRONTAGE ROAD

This is the second phase of a project designed to activate eight acres of underutilized real estate previously used for construction lay down and materials storage beneath the elevated viaduct of the Central Artery (I-93) running between the South End and South Boston neighborhoods of Boston. This previous use of the space had the unintended consequences of widespread illicit activities on MassDOT property. MassDOT committed to converting the vacant space under the highway into a more active facility after Secretary Davey toured the site with State Rep. Aaron Michlewitz in December 2011. Central to MassDOT’s strategy to activate the space is the construction of a multi-user parking facility with uniformed security personnel 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, serving multiple parking users throughout peak commuting hours, off-peak weekday hours, and weekends. MassDOT is pursuing a number of secondary strategies to activate the space ancillary to the parking use. These include improvements to the pedestrian and bicycling conditions to increase connectivity between neighborhoods, designation of the Facility as a mobility hub where the travelling public can shift transportation modes adjacent to the highway, urban design interventions to create a sense of place, and the utilization of property not suitable for parking to showcase the surrounding transportation infrastructure which stitches together the region, and to provide open space and an extension of the Boston Harborwalk. In total the project includes construction of 432 parking spaces constructed in phases, in three separate parking lots. Phase 1 is complete, and included the construction of a parking lot between Albany Street, I-93 Frontage Road, Randolph Street and Paul Sullivan Way accommodating 171 parking spaces accessible from Albany Street (“Lot 2”); and a parking lot located between Albany Street, I-93 Frontage Road, Berkeley/4th Street and Traveler Street accommodating 64 parking spaces accessible from Albany Street (“Lot 4”). This Phase 2, which has been assigned Project Info # 607827, consists of an additional parking lot containing 197 parking spaces accessible from Traveler Street (“Lot 5”), a storm-water mitigation landscape, multi-modal path, and public realm improvements including the extension of the Boston Harborwalk.