HSH Awarded Contract for the Reconstruction of Melnea Cass Boulevard
In July 2011, Howard/Stein-Hudson (HSH) was awarded a Boston Transportation Department contract for the reconstruction of Melnea Cass Boulevard in lower Roxbury as a "complete street" that is multimodal, green and smart. No urban corridor exemplifies the paradigm shift from building highways to "complete streets" more dramatically. This corridor was originally a recommended link of the Inner Belt Highway Project: a limited access multi-lane highway with significant land requirements for ramp connections and interchanges in Boston's core, envisioned to connect the existing Southeast Expressway with a planned eight-lane Southwest Expressway. Even the massive Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project involved fewer land takings for its execution.
In the early 1970s, a community outcry with national proportions resulted in the Southwest Corridor Development Plan, the 1987 relocation of the Orange Line to replace the proposed highway, the Southwest Corridor Park, and the Circumferential Transit Project, now known as the Urban Ring. While the design of the "Crosstown Street", later renamed Melnea Cass Boulevard, did provide an easement for future Urban Ring operations and efforts were made to insure short and safe pedestrian crossings, the City today -- close to 40 years later – is reconstructing the street to serve all its users more equitably and safely – not only drivers, but pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders.
Subcontractors to HSH include Crosby Schlessinger Smallridge LLC, Toole Design Group, GLC Development Resources, the Charles River Watershed Association, and A-Plus Construction Services Corp. Design work will begin in August. For more information, contact Keri Pyke (kpyke@hshassoc.com).