1. Introductory.
2. Trees to be Destroyed on the Boston End of the Longfellow Bridge.
3. Photo of the past that the DCR and its Friends are fighting to recreate.
4. Current relation to Cambridge part of the Charles River.
I have received a report on more tree destruction as part of the Longfellow Bridge project.
The Longfellow Bridge is the second bridge east of the BU Bridge, over the Charles River.
We provided a number of reports on destruction at the Cambridge end including an outrageous destruction of a grove above the Red Line subway tunnel. This outrage has turned out to be totally wasteful.
An excellent grove of needed trees was replaced with a garbage dump.
I have said a number of times that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation is not perfect. In the Longfellow Bridge project, they have proven that.
On the other hand, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the City of Cambridge approach being perfect in the wrong direction.
A very major part of the problem in Cambridge is the same problem with the Department of Conservation and Recreation. You get irresponsible bureaucrats talking to the belligerently irresponsible Cambridge “planners” and you get destruction.
With a destructive City Council lying about holiness.
It appears that trees are being destroyed on the Boston side in addition to the outrage on the Cambridge side of the Longfellow Bridge.
The plans of the DCR on Memorial Drive in Cambridge are so massive that the DCR does not even count the number of trees slated for destruction in the Wild Area, in association with the City Council’s secret and destructive part of the Grand Junction highway.
On Beacon Hill, it is a problem with a destructive team from MassDOT talking with the very destructive DCR, and the predictable is occurring.
Looking at the dates in the report, I have been very remiss in not publishing it sooner, although it says the worst work is occurring the first week of October. My apologies.
Here is the report provided by my source, who was passing on an email.
2. Trees to be Destroyed on the Boston End of the Longfellow Bridge.
MassDOT Announces
Tree Removals to Prepare for New Pedestrian Bridge Construction in Boston and Work in Cambridge
Beginning on Saturday, September 19, MassDOT’s contractor for the Longfellow Bridge Rehabilitation Project, White-Skanska-Consigli (WSC), will begin the final phase of tree removals.
The work is necessary to prepare for construction of the new pedestrian bridge connecting the Esplanade with Charles Circle, and to accommodate construction activities in Cambridge and at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) parking lot.
One tree between the pedestrian bridge and the Mugar Way off-ramp from Storrow Drive will be removed on September 19.
The contractor anticipates taking down the remainder of the trees scheduled for removal beginning the first week of October.
Thirty-four trees in the vicinity of the existing pedestrian bridge on the Esplanade will be removed, along with one in the LAZ parking lot for MEEI and two within the project construction fencing in Cambridge.
Pruning and other protective measures will be in place for trees that will not be removed, such as placing wood slats (or cladding) around the trunks and fencing to protect the root systems.
Trees scheduled for removal are marked with an orange “X” on the trunk.
MassDOT has coordinated extensively with the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Boston and Cambridge Conservation Commissions in planning for the removals and understands the value residents and visitors place on trees.
Every effort has been made to minimize the number of impacted trees through careful design.
A landscape architect and a certified arborist are part of the project team and will monitor the work.
For more information, visit the project website at www.mFor questions or issues and concerns related to construction, please call the project hotline at 617-519-9892 or email longfellowbridge@state.ma.us [ed: the error in the website is in the copy I have received.]
3. Photo of the past that the DCR and its Friends are fighting to recreate.
Photo provided by my source, Treeless Esplanade at the Longfellow Bridge. His / her source is the Boston Public Library.
This view looks to me like it is from the Cambridge end of the Longfellow Bridge, with Beacon Hill on the right. The situation is not currently this bad, but moves have been taken in the wrong direction.
The construction on the right is very much like the foot of Beacon Hill. I find such construction to the right of the Longfellow Bridge very hard to believe if the view is to Cambridge.
And moves are being taken in the wrong direction on the Cambridge side right now.
Thinking things over that much more, I am bewildered.
Was the 50's / 60's destruction in Cambridge this irresponsible?
4. Current relation to Cambridge part of the Charles River.
Exactly on point is Wild Area slated for destruction between the Grand Junction Railroad Track and the BU Boathouse. This is a good comparison to the picture.
The wild area artificially will look like the past, if the highly irresponsible DCR and Cambridge City Council succeed in their current goals.
The DCR plans, which I have published, show only one tree not being destroyed.
