In Mass. Pike realignment saga, Harvard and Boston push housing instead of train parking

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

In Mass. Pike realignment saga, Harvard and Boston push housing instead of train parking (Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: March 28, 2025)

In Mass. Pike realignment saga, Harvard and Boston push housing

The BU Bridge over the Charles River, the elevated section of the Mass. Pike, and the Beacon Park 

Yard in Allston, as seen from View Boston, the viewing platform on the upper floors of the 

Prudential Tower.Lane Turner/Globe Staff

Housing or train parking?

The answer to that question could determine the fate of Boston’s most ambitious infrastructure proposal since the Big Dig redrew the city map around the turn of the century. We’re talking about the $2 billion realignment of the Mass. Turnpike in Allston alongside a new transit hub called West Station. This decade-long construction project, like the Big Dig, isn’t just about transportation. It would open up roughly 100 acres for development — a whole new neighborhood, sandwiched between Harvard and Boston University.

The possibilities for the city are huge. As former BU planning consultant Kishore Varanasi, at architectural firm CBT, puts it: Boston hasn’t seen something of this scale go up on the Charles River since the Back Bay was created, back in the Civil War era.

But the fate of this enormous project could hinge on something relatively small: What will happen along a narrow stretch of land around where the new station would go, south of the realigned turnpike?

Harvard owns the strip in question, as part of its Beacon Park Yard holdings, and would much prefer to develop it. The university recently started circulating designs for housing construction, likely a mix of affordable and market-rate units, in this spot. Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration supports this vision, along with many Allston residents; the mix of low-, mid- and high-rise buildings would go up between the station and a linear path that would run parallel with the train tracks, extending out to the river.

However, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation has a different use in mind for some of this land around the new station: tracks for train parking and maintenance, as well as bypass tracks to whisk express trains through without stopping, avoiding the new station entirely. The state agency’s newest Allston plan calls for two layover tracks, enough room to park four trains.

The clash over these competing visions spilled out into public view on March 12 at a neighborhood task force meeting. MassDOT megaprojects boss Luisa Paiewonsky came armed with a report outlining the state’s future rail layover needs. The MBTA acquired 24 acres in the Widett Circle industrial area, south of downtown, two years ago for train layover. But with the Healey administration and Amtrak collaborating to improve east-west train service across the state, they argue Widett won’t be enough. They need even more space.

And their eyes are fixed squarely on this stretch of dirt in Allston.

Although the layover debate dominated the meeting, it has loomed large for a while now. Initial plans for what’s been dubbed the Allston Multimodal Project once called for many more tracks.

Then the MBTA secured Widett, and Wu showed an openness to parking and maintaining trains there, particularly as an alternative to Allston.

A year ago, state transportation secretary Monica Tibbitts-Nutt essentially promised there would be no layover in Allston. It was a pledge that did not last long.

State officials subsequently let it be known that layover in Allston was still on the table. And in November, Tibbitts-Nutt made the official decree: There would be four layover tracks south of West Station. Paiewonsky then became the point person for this project, and an outside facilitator was hired to help improve discussions with the community.

To broker a compromise, MassDOT’s Paiewonsky pared back the layover requirement to two tracks instead of four in the weeks leading up to the task force meeting, and relocated them in one conceptual drawing to just north of the new station. The general reaction from Harvard, City Hall, and the neighborhood: Not good enough.

They want a more in-depth analysis of a “no layover” alternative, as part of a tallying of the pros and cons. This acreage is valuable, and the general feeling is it could be put to better use. There’s also frustration about the speculative nature of these layover demands, with no guarantee most of these projected trains ever get added to the system. The city obviously needs more housing, and that architecture could make the path to the Charles more appealing than a facade for the walled-in train infrastructure.

Plus, there’s widespread concern that by sending many Framingham/Worcester line trains in and out of Boston on that express route without going through West Station, the new transit hub won’t ever reach its full potential.

So why not build what the neighborhood wants? From the Healey administration’s perspective, it’s not that simple. If east-west service gets expanded as intended, the state will need to park these trains somewhere, ideally near the end of the line. Plus, layover is already listed as part of the project’s “purpose and need” in its permitting documents. And the bypass tracks are simply aimed at ensuring the new station doesn’t slow down trips for commuters coming from points to the west.

All this back-and-forth may need to end soon. To hold onto $335 million in federal assistance, MassDOT needs to secure critical federal environmental approvals by September 2026. More than enough time, right? Not exactly. Paiewonsky indicated in the task force meeting that the project team is on a tight timetable. As a result, MassDOT will start filing draft documents with the Federal Highway Administration as soon as next month.

Paiewonsky knows she landed on a high wire, amid a tricky balancing act. She sees how Allston fits into a broader transportation vision for the state. But she also knows the leverage that’s held by Harvard, Wu, and the neighborhood (whose state rep, Mike Moran, is among the highest-ranking lawmakers in the State House). Reaching some kind of a consensus will be important.

Tony D’Isidoro, lifelong resident and head of the Allston Civic Association, made a passionate plea as the task force meeting wrapped up. Harvard, he said, makes a strong case for its vision. He added that the high cost of housing is tearing away the fabric of Allston’s community, much like the turnpike extension did when it was built in the 1960s. He urged Paiewonsky and other state officials to be compassionate and do what’s best for the people who live there. Her response: We would be glad to have that conversation.

As a transportation pro, Paiewonsky knows as much as anyone about how to build a massive highway project. While those are rarely easy, it can be even tougher to build a great neighborhood.