Activating Columbia Road: Reframing a Missing Link

Boston Green Links
City of Boston, NBBJ, 2015
The Green Links Initiative was originally inspired by
a Greenway Links Charrette Competition hosted
by LSA’s Emerald Network and the Boston Society
of Architects in June 2014 which invited local firms
and professionals to submit design ideas for missing
links in Boston’s greenway network. 27 Nine teams
from leading local design firms submitted design
concepts for green links. NBBJ, Nitsch Engineering,
Kittelson & Associates, Klopfer Martin Design Group,
and Lam partners submitted a proposed green
link design for Columbia Road, highlighting safety,
placemaking, sustainability, legibility of street
signage, and a multimodal balance. 28
As a result of this event, in 2015 the City dedicated
funding to begin a process of identifying potential
green links, defined as “missing bike and pedestrian
connections that, when completed, will create a
seamless network of greenway paths connected to
every neighborhood.” 29 NBBJ was hired to lead this
process and they thought carefully about which
links would provide not only better walkable and
bikeable routes but also could achieve climate
resiliency and social equity goals. 30 It was through
this process that Columbia Road was officially
identified as a proposed green link which would
connect Franklin Park and Moakley Park.
27 Emerald Network, “Greenway Links Charrette Design Contest
2014.”
28 Nitsch Engineering et al, “Greenway Links // Columbia Road.”
29 City of Boston, “Boston Green Links.”
30 Mountjoy, interview.
While the Green Links initiative is far-reaching, with
proposed projects all across Boston, it appears that
community engagement has been limited. In the
process of identifying specific green links, the City,
NBBJ, and LSA organized a series of community
walks and rides in which planners were introduced
to the community context and to neighborhood
representatives. In October 2015, LSA hosted a
design charrette in Upham’s Corner in which local
planners, designers, and residents were given the
opportunity to imagine what a Columbia Road
green link could look like. In an interview with our
project team, Amber Christoffersen, former Project
Manager at LSA and organizer of this event,
admitted that while this exercise was certainly
helpful in visualizing the possibilities for the corridor,
there were concerns about implementation and
whether the project would indeed progress. 31
Christoffersen also commented on how this process
revealed issues along the corridor in addition to
pedestrian and cyclist access. She told our team,
“it isn’t all about walking and biking; that was our
orientation but there are a lot of ways it can be
improved.” 32
Green Links is still an active initiative of Boston
Transportation Department, with ongoing projects
around Ruggles Station and the Fairmount
Greenway; however, Columbia Road remains
merely a proposed link. In an interview with our
project team, Alan Mountjoy, a Principal at
NBBJ, commented on the challenges facing the
Columbia Road green link, including the sheer
length of the corridor, the amount of funding
required to implement such a project, and the
lack of a constituency, or more specifically, the
lack of awareness along the corridor that links to
nearby parks are even possible. When referring to
conversations with residents, Mountjoy recounted,
“A lot of people said ‘As the crow flies, Franklin Park
is only ¾ of a mile away... we never go there. Or if
we did, we’d get in a car and drive there.” 33
Figure 48: Outreach Image Commonly Used for Columbia Road
Green Link
31 Christoffersen, interview.
32 Ibid.
33 Mountjoy, interview.
Activating Columbia Road: Reframing a Missing Link
67