Boston PIC Approves Dorchester Bridge Demolition, Four Other Petitions at April Meeting

BOSTON -- April 25, 2024, Boston's Public Improvement Commission voted unanimously to approve five petitions at its April 25 meeting, including the formal discontinuance of the Jones Avenue pedestrian footway in Dorchester and a telecom conduit grant of location for Marathon Fiber Networks LLC along Bedford and Chauncey streets downtown. Jeffrey Alexis of the Boston Public Works Department Engineering Division told commissioners the Jones Avenue bridge over an MBTA commuter rail line had already been demolished for safety reasons, and that the two city-owned parcels created by the discontinuance will be transferred to the Mayor's Department of Housing for future development, with neighborhood street improvements to follow later in 2024. The commission also cleared specific-repair petitions for HB Tracks Realty LLC at 1318 River Street in Hyde Park, and for the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University at two historic West Roxbury entrances pending a Massachusetts Architectural Access Board variance expected May 6. Two new-business items, a long-delayed pedestrian easement for a completed 167-unit condominium at 55 LaGrange Street and a Holocaust Legacy Foundation museum proposal at 125 Tremont Street, were each continued two weeks after commissioners raised unresolved questions about bollard placement, accessible ramp design, and a misplaced traffic-signal cabinet on Tremont Street.