The Morrissey Commission planning group, working under a legislative mandate, approved its final report in an online meeting last Thursday (June 26) after ducking a curveball that city officials tossed into the process by committing to lead a much-requested comprehensive planning process alongside the road project.

Much of the curb-to-curb roadway designs, which had been vetted and discussed in meetings throughout 2024, have been embraced by neighbors and commission members.

They encompasses changes to key points from Preble Circle in South Boston to Neponset Circle – with most showing improvement to traffic congestion on computer models and including much better access points for pedestrians trying to get to the waterfront from the neighborhoods.

New configurations and new roadways are suggested for the area by Star Market, Bianculli Circle at the UMass-Boston intersection, and a major alteration to traffic at Freeport Street and Victory Road will include new intersections and no direct left turns off Freeport.

One sticking point was a flood mitigation wall or berm along Morrissey Boulevard between Bianculli and Freeport. Neighbors and planners clashed over designs and strategies during most of the process, and that part of the plan was set for further review during the design process.

And just last month, in an unrelated project, the Army Corps of Engineers said they have some planning suggestions for the project that officials intend to introduce later this year.

The lack of comprehensive planning within the Commission’s three-year journey has been a bone of contention with elected officials and community members from Savin Hill who are concerned about a flurry of development in the pipeline on Morrissey and whether basic infrastructure needs can be met beyond the road-building.

That concern nearly led to the rejection of the final report, with hesitation by some Commission members to move the matter to a vote. In the end, though, the report was voted in, 7-1, moving it into MassDOT’s project development and design processes.

State Sen. Nick Collins was the lone ‘no’ vote. Speaking through a representative, he said he could not support the roadway plan because it took away a third travel lane and had bike lanes on the roadway and not on the coastline. State Rep. Dan Hunt and City Councillor John FitzGerald had reservations about conclusions in the report, but they approved passing it along to the design phase where there would be opportunities to effect change. “Voting on this doesn’t necessarily mean you approve every provision,” said Hunt.

MassDOT’s David Mohler said that the approval “allows us to move this into project development and lets us be done with planning,” adding: “We need to take what we’ve learned and keep the momentum into project development, and this will become an official project for implementation and be assigned a project manager from MassDOT. Our study will provide technical background and community feedback to inform the design process.”

Another skeptic of the report as approved is City of Boston Planning Director Kairos Shen, who joined the effort late last year and over time advocated more than once for comprehensive planning. Expressing reservations with the vote, he pledged to take up a city-run comprehensive planning effort for the area if MassDOT advanced the roadway project.

“The kind of comprehensive planning we want here rests with the Planning Department of the city and shouldn’t be transferred to MassDOT or the DCR (Department of Conservation and Recreation),” he said.
“I want to make a clear statement to everyone,” he added, “that the city is prepared to take on and fund that comprehensive planning effort, but I want to make sure it is understood that is contingent on MassDOT advancing this design and [continuing work] on K-Circle [Kosciuszko Circle].”

The Circle project is already in the design stage, as is the Beades Bridge replacement project farther south on Morrissey Boulevard.

Shen said an extended city planning approach alongside the roadway project would be a positive development for community members, stakeholders and developers along the corridor, where as many as 10,000 units of housing have been approved or proposed.

“I want to make sure with the commitment of brain power that the state does advance the roadway design,” he said, which some took as a reference to the various Morrissey rehab projects that have been going back to 1980.
The city commitment seemed to come as a relief to MassDOT officials, who have been criticized for not planning beyond the roadways.

“If you want MassDOT or DCR perspective, we’re not running away from that, but it doesn’t make sense to MassDOT that it would be in charge of comprehensive community planning,” said Mohler, who also assured that there would be seamless coordination between the corridor’s three projects – Morrissey, K-Circle, and Beades Bridge.

Residents who have been involved in planning for the boulevard corridor for many years praised Shen for stepping up to work with them on sorting out likely massive changes beyond the roadway while making pointed remarks about MassDOT’s oversight record over the last three years.

“My opinion is you shouldn’t be allowed to say you’re done; you didn’t do what you were supposed to do,” said Don Walsh. “I like what Kairos Shen had to say about the city stepping up…I absolutely support that because from what I’ve seen the state doesn’t do comprehensive planning – period.”

That opinion was seconded by Bill Walczak, president of the Columbia Savin Hill Civic Association (CSHCA), who said he also supported the city’s commitment to continue its planning effort.

Maria Lyons, of Port Norfolk, said she hoped the state would continue its commitment to early-action improvements, such as signalizing Conley Street “because a Conley Street entrance and exit is vital to our community.” She also said she hoped they would eliminate bike lanes on the roadway and add them to the waterfront to connect with the Neponset Greenway expansion.

The report will be delivered to the Legislature, as the Commission was created with legislation by Sen. Collins and state Reps. Hunt and David Biele. Meanwhile, MassDOT is expected work toward a 25 percent design milestone.
“We will be back out here to the community once we start design,” said Mohler.