A group of Wentworth Institute of Technology students received rave reviews from the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council (GMNC) on Monday night, Dec. 5, for their project to better connect Mattapan and Milton using the Mattapan High Speed Trolley and the Neponset River.

The effort was a class project by Professor Ryan Thomas’s Architecture and Design studio class, and by no means was it an official plan, but many neighbors said they hoped that decision-makers in official capacities were paying attention.

Students Taylor Blaney, Ryan Tupper, Nate Kalinyak, and Rex Jing focused on how to reunite Mattapan and Milton along the trolley line, in many cases focusing on stations and riverfront amenities like boat launches at those stations. In particular, the group focused on Mattapan Station, naming it Mattapan Grove Station. There, they suggested changes like a boat launch, an MBTA museum focusing on the old trolleys, and a new single-car train that would loop up Blue Hill Avenue between the Station and the Blue Hill Avenue Commuter Station near the bridge.

They also focused efforts on trolley stations at Valley Road and Capen Street.

Before even putting a pen to paper, students said they spent September going out to the various stations and gathering data and demographics about the riders they observed getting off at the various stations. That data was valuable in forming the ideas for amenities, which in many cases included terracing down to the river for better access.

At Mattapan Square, the focus was a station with lots of green space, and a connecting point where Milton and Mattapan would interact when using the trolley. The green space was punctuated with a placemaking destination that would include an MBTA museum.

Another key piece of the Mattapan Grove Station is a single-car, center lane train that would run in a loop from the Station up to the Blue Hill Commuter Rail, with stops at Babson, Regis, and the bridge.

“The idea is it would have a single train going up and down Blue Hill Avenue in the center lane from Mattapan Station,” said Tupper. “People could get on and off easily and it would connect the commuter rail. Right now, there isn’t much connection between Mattapan Square and the commuter rail.”

That would be augmented by a new bus line that would run from Milton and connect residents there to the Blue Hill Avenue commuter rail station. At Valley Station, they would add amenities like a tennis court and a boat launch and a renewed connection to the Greenway.

“(The Greenway) is actually fenced off because of the topography at Valley Road,” said Blaney. “We would like to open that up and solve the topography to give access.”

Likewise, she said many young adults were observed getting off the trolley there, and they noted there is nothing there to catch their attention.

“It’s just reconnecting to the river again or providing amenities so it’s not a place to get off the train and go home, but to get off the train and spend time with friends,” said Blaney.

Professor Thomas mentioned the changes aren’t just to benefit Mattapan, but also Miltonians. He noted they observed that Miltonians abutting the river have no access to health care, which is abundant on the Mattapan side. They said accessing health care requires getting in a car and driving 20 minutes on the highway.

“Making the connection and the station more pedestrian and bus friendly would make it more suitable for Miltonians as far as accessing amenities in Mattapan,” said Thomas. “These improvements are for the benefit of both sides of the river.”

MATTAPAN NOTEBOOK
•The GMNC Zoning Committee has okayed a request by developer Steve Desmangles of Mattapan for a three-decker being built on 18 Fabyan St. The project was apparently given the green light by the city to start construction, but later it was determined that variances were required. By then, the project was well underway. “The project had already gotten to the point that it would create a significant hardship on the developer and developments nearby because of construction equipment. The dimensions are not excessive,” said President Ali-Salaam. The request to let it move forward without having to demolish it and start over was approved unanimously by the GMNC.

•The GMNC Zoning Committee asked the team of Willie Mandrell III, Denisha McDonald and Sharon Quiroz to go back to the community outreach phase before progressing on their plan to put a financial literacy center at 631 Cummins Hwy. The site is the former Born Again Evangelistic Outreach Center church but was sold earlier this year. A plan to add a second floor was also frowned upon by the Committee, which recommended leaving it one story.

•The Boston Transportation Department (BTD) is currently working on the 100 percent design milestone for the Cummins Highway redesign project – the subject of dozens of meetings over the past year. A final meeting is expected in January or February, with the project hopefully bid out in the first quarter and construction starting by summer 2023.

•The Boston Planning and Development Agency’s (BPDA) PLAN Mattapan comment deadline ended on Dec. 4 and the Agency is compiling a lot of feedback from residents, said BPDA’s Kenya Beaman. She thanked so many residents for providing their input on the plan.