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Boston secures ‘critical’ license for Long Island Bridge reconstruction
City officials hope to rebuild the bridge and a large public health campus on Long Island.
Boston officials are accelerating plans to reconstruct the Long Island Bridge after receiving an essential permit from the state this week. The bridge would connect to a modern recovery campus that city leaders say would be a major step in combating the region’s ongoing substance use crisis.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Thursday that the city secured a Chapter 91 License from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to rebuild the bridge. Officials called this the “most significant state approval” required in the process, which has been ongoing since former Mayor Marty Walsh pledged to rebuild the bridge in 2018.
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“With this major state approval in hand, our work to rebuild the Long Island Bridge and bring back this critical health care campus can truly begin,” Wu said in a statement. ”This is a transformative opportunity to support families and meet the needs of individuals and communities across the region.”
Now, Wu’s administration can turn towards two final reviews needed for the project. A federal consistency review by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management must be completed, and a bridge permit from the United States Coast Guard must be obtained. Coast Guard officials have previously shown support for the city’s bridge design.
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Boston will now issue a request for proposal to contract a management firm to add expertise and oversee the project. After that is secured, a bid process will commence for the construction itself.
There is $38 million allocated to repair the existing buildings on the Long Island public health campus, which spans 35 acres and includes 11 buildings. A bid process is planned for repairing the buildings on the island later this year, and officials hope to begin construction via barge next spring. Construction on the island will take between 16 and 24 months, and services will open to the public after the bridge work is completed.
The gap in services
The city is working to address overlapping substance use, homelessness, and mental health crises. The epicenter of these issues — the city blocks surrounding the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, known as Mass. and Cass — has become more dangerous recently, Wu said last week. A rise in criminal activity has prompted nonprofits to pull their workers out of the area, she said, and officials are calling for police to conduct warrant sweeps.
Those that work with the city on these issues expressed support for the new permit and the bridge reconstruction project.
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“Since our beginning in 1985 until the demolition of the Long Island bridge in 2015, BHCHP, along with other service agencies, had provided important medical, behavioral health, substance use recovery care and other services on the island’s campus of medical and shelter buildings. Without access to the island’s facilities, the resultant gap in these services has created significant challenges for our health care providers and for the patients we serve,” CEO of Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Stephanie Sullivan said in a statement.
The bridge will be rebuilt on top of the existing piers, which are set to be refurbished during construction. Designs are already completed, Boston officials said in a release Thursday.
The reconstructed bridge will stretch 3,300 feet, with a car lane in each direction. Sidewalks and lighting will also be added. The design accounts for predicted sea level rise and would preserve clearance for boats, The Boston Globe reported.
Boston vs. Quincy
The Long Island Bridge has been at the center of an extended legal dispute between Boston and Quincy officials. It would connect Long Island to Moon Island, which is technically owned by Boston but sits within Quincy’s municipal boundaries at its northern tip. Vehicles traveling to and from Long Island would have to pass through the North Quincy neighborhood of Squantum.
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Quincy residents have opposed the bridge reconstruction due to concerns of increased traffic and environmental harm, the Globe reported. Last year, Suffolk Superior Court ruled in Boston’s favor after Quincy officials argued that Boston misrepresented the project’s environmental impact.
There is still opposition. Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch’s chief of staff, Christopher Walker, told the Globe that Quincy plans to appeal the issuance of the new permit.
“It’s clearly environmentally unsustainable,” he told the paper, “and we know it will have significant impact on the navigation channels as well, and we’ll be making that case.”
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