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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Tear down that overpass: What to know about the new McGrath Highway makeover plan
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It’s the last day before February school vacation week in Massachusetts (or, as it will be known in Newton, hooky week).
Before you head off to the slopes or sun, let’s get to the news:
Grounded: Former Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone once said he would “rip down” McGrath Highway with his “bare hands” if he could. But it increasingly looks like it won’t have to come to that. During a meeting this week, MassDOT unveiled a new plan for the so-called “grounding” of McGrath and officially penciled it into their long-term project budget. The plan includes tearing down the unsightly Route 28 viaduct through East Somerville and East Cambridge, and replacing it with a ground-level boulevard with fewer car lanes, and more trees and bike lanes. “It’s really one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my time as a state rep,” Cambridge state Rep. Mike Connolly said of the new slate of renderings (which you can scroll through here).
- Zoom out: McGrath Highway dates back to the early 1950s, before the area’s anti-highway movement gained steam. Since then, Connolly said the elevated highway has cut off East Somerville from the rest of the community and left a swath of two of the otherwise densest cities in New England as a relatively undeveloped “no man’s land.”
- Zoom in: The new vision would demolish the overpass and reduce the number of car lanes to two in each direction from Somerville’s Broadway to Lechmere in Cambridge. (MassDOT says car volume on McGrath has dropped by a third since 2011.) It also would add sidewalks, medians with green space and two-way, separated bike lanes — on both sides of the street in some areas.
- At what cost? Connolly says the total price tag comes in around $150 million — a combo of state and federal funding that has been programmed into MassDOT’s fiscal year 2027 capital budget.
- What’s next: Construction isn’t slated to start until 2028. But there are some changes happening in the interim, like the recent reduction of lanes along some stretches of McGrath and plans to install protected bike lanes in the near future. “We are now proving this concept in real time,” Connolly said.
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Riley resigns: Massachusetts’ state K-12 education commissioner Jeff Riley announced yesterday that he will resign next month, after more than six years in the role. The longtime educator cited the need to spend more time with his aging parents, which is “not compatible with the demands of the Commissioner’s job” — especially as the state launches big, new education initiatives.
The South Shore’s empty seat: There’ll be no special election this year to fill the House seat vacated last week by state Rep. Josh Cutler, a Duxbury Democrat. House Speaker Ron Mariano (the person in charge of scheduling House special elections) announced yesterday that he plans to let the seat sit vacant through the end of the year.
- Why? Mariano said the costs of holding a special election would unduly burden communities, given that the seat will already be on the November ballot, per State House News Service.
- Local Republicans are criticizing the move, suggesting Mariano is worried about a Republican winning the special election. MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale said it will leave the 6th Plymouth House district “without representation” during budget deliberations and the busy end of the legislative session.
Off track: The good news is the MBTA has the lights back on after yesterday morning’s debacle. However, Orange Line riders will face a (planned) service disruption this weekend. Free shuttle buses will replace train service between Forest Hills and Ruggles stations on both Saturday and Sunday night so crews can do signal work.
- Your JP-to-South Station shortcut: The T is also making the commuter rail free to board between Forest Hills, Ruggles, Back Bay and South Station during the weekend diversion.
Heads up: Jennifer Lopez’s new summer concert tour will come to the TD Garden on Aug. 7, and tickets go on sale a week from today, Friday, Feb 23. (TBD whether the Dun Kings will open.)
- Go deeper: J-Lo spoke to NPR’s Morning Edition today about the new “This Is Me…Now” album and tour.
P.S.— The New England Aquarium is taking part in a 50-facility effort to protect ___ from extinction. Do you know the animal? Then take our Boston News Quiz and test your knowledge of this week’s stories.
