Activating Columbia Road: Reframing a Missing Link

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Mountjoy readily admitted that if the project were to move forward, it would require an extensive and in-depth community process, which simply has not occurred yet. Ironically enough, the most heavily circulated rendering of what a Columbia Road green link might look like - the same image used on the City of Boston’s Green Links website - is the rendering developed for the 2014 Greenway Links Charrette Competition, which was produced without official community input. The proliferation of this image is unfortunate in that it does not represent a community vision, but the fact that Columbia Road is again identified as a proposed project by the City of Boston is an encouraging start. Figure 49: Proposed Design for Columbia Road Green Link 68 Activating Columbia Road: Reframing a Missing Link
Go Boston 2030 City of Boston, March 2015 The Go Boston 2030 report is a City of Boston initiative that lays out transportation and mobility plans for the City over the course of the next 5, 10, and 15 years. Released in 2015, the report is based on 5,000 questions and comments collected from the public as well as the 650 people who participated in the initiative’s 2-day Visioning Lab, which included interactive walls and data infographics to help shape the report’s goals. The three guiding principles of the report are: • Equity • Economic opportunity • Climate responsiveness Over the course of two years, the City engaged with residents through a “Question Campaign,” roundtables, visioning workshops, an online portal, and project voting ballots. The goals that came out of that process focused primarily on expanding access, improving safety, and ensuring reliability. The Go Boston 2030 community engagement process was managed by Alice Brown, Boston Transportation Department’s Project Manager for Go Boston 2030, who in spring 2019 is the Director of Planning at Boston Harbor Now. The first round of community engagement focused on a question campaign; a “What’s Your Question?” truck circulated the city’s neighborhoods, collecting residents’ questions about the future of transportation in Boston. Brown described that they “primarily used the question truck, but we had internet options and we had ads on the subway and things that few other plans will ever have the funding to do.” 34 The second round focused on collecting ideas about what Boston’s transportation future could be. This was done on maps and cards, at a bike trailer that went around the city, and with another online web interface. They also collected data through workshops around the city and a “Share your Trip” program, which allowed the Boston Transportation Department (BTD) staff to join a resident on their commute to work and get a sense of their barriers and challenges. These efforts gathered over 3,500 policy and project ideas, with close to 4,000 people voting on their top priority projects. 35,36 On Columbia Road, many of these efforts centered around the Upham’s Corner area rather than the whole corridor. Brown explained “By the time Imagine Boston began, every single one of the other plans had been through Upham’s Corner, not just somewhere on Columbia Road, but through Upham’s Corner.” 37 Brown mentioned that their question truck went to Upham’s Corner, as well as the bike cart and a shared trip with BTD. All of these activities allowed planners to hear directly from people who lived or traveled through this section of the corridor. “It became, maybe even less Columbia Road but more Upham’s Corner, became the center of a lot of planning efforts. Everyone kept coming there. People had ideas. In terms of continuing to think of it as a greenway, that was still largely happening outside of the neighborhood.” 38 Although these community Figure 50: Cover Page of Go Boston 2030: Vision and Action Plan 34 Brown, interview. 35 Ibid. 36 City of Boston, “Go Boston 2030: Vision and Action Plan,” 3. 37 Brown, interview 38 Ibid. Activating Columbia Road: Reframing a Missing Link 69
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ACTIVATING COLUMBIA ROAD: REFRAMING
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ACTIVATING COLUMBIA ROAD: REFRAMING
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TEAM MEMBERS Aqsa Butt M.A. Candida
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Following this research process our
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LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Plan of t
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1. INTRODUCTION
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Figure 3: Columbia Road, 1948 Figur
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LivableStreets Alliance LivableStre
Page 18 and 19: Project Goals Columbia Road has a l
Page 20 and 21: 2. METHODS
Page 22 and 23: CURRENT DATA What data and informat
Page 24 and 25: Case Studies We reviewed three case
Page 26 and 27: 3. CONTEXT
Page 28 and 29: Source: MassGIS Figure 12: Locus Ma
Page 30 and 31: Boston Neighborhoods Source: MassGI
Page 32 and 33: Figure 16: 2017 Average Household I
Page 34 and 35: Source: MassGIS, MassEOEEA Figure 1
Page 36 and 37: Source: MassGIS, ACS 2017 (5-year)
Page 38 and 39: Source: MassGIS, ReferenceUSA Figur
Page 40 and 41: of Blue Hill Avenue up to the Fairm
Page 42 and 43: Environmental Justice Communities O
Page 44 and 45: Source: MassGIS, MassEOEEA Figure 2
Page 46 and 47: Source: MassGIS Figure 28: Accessib
Page 48 and 49: Source: Boston Green Ribbon Commiss
Page 50 and 51: Public Health and Environmental Hea
Page 52 and 53: Placemaking and Public Art The Desi
Page 54 and 55: Source: MassGIS, MBTA, DS4SI, Fairm
Page 56 and 57: Source: MassGIS, Boston Planning an
Page 58 and 59: Moakley Park At the northeast end o
Page 60 and 61: 4. PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
Page 62 and 63: Figure 45: Timeline of Columbia Roa
Page 64 and 65: Upham’s Corner The following stra
Page 66 and 67: Fairmount Cultural Corridor The Fai
Page 70 and 71: engagement activities generated a w
Page 72 and 73: Imagine Boston 2030 City of Boston,
Page 74 and 75: 2030 framed the process well to res
Page 76 and 77: 5. MOBILITY
Page 78 and 79: Walkability and Pedestrian Experien
Page 80 and 81: Figure 61: Bike Lane on Columbia Ro
Page 82 and 83: Source: MassGIS Figure 64: MBTA Bus
Page 84 and 85: Fairmount Commuter Rail Line The Fa
Page 86 and 87: Car Use and Parking Columbia Road i
Page 88 and 89: 6. CASE STUDIES
Page 90 and 91: SAN PABLO AVENUE Historically an Af
Page 92 and 93: FOUNTAIN AVENUE Fountain Avenue run
Page 94 and 95: TEMPLE STREET Figure 76: Street Saf
Page 96 and 97: 7. ANALYSIS
Page 98 and 99: agencies. For example, in 2019, pla
Page 100 and 101: 8. RECOMMENDATIONS
Page 102 and 103: MBTA to address worries about the F
Page 104 and 105: 9. APPENDIX
Page 106 and 107: Sources of Graphics Cover Page and
Page 108 and 109: Figure 68: Aqsa Butt, MBTA, MassGIS
Page 110 and 111: A Sample of Community Organizations
Page 112 and 113: Boston Redevelopment Authority. “
Page 114 and 115: Levenson, Michael. 2015. “Boston
Page 116 and 117: Voynovskaya, Nastia. “A Black Cul
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Activating Columbia Road: Reframing a Missing Link

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