Boston PIC Approves South Boston Street Overhaul Tied to 1.1-Million-Square-Foot Development

BOSTON -- December 21, 2023, Boston's Public Improvement Commission approved a sweeping package of street improvements for a 1.1-million-square-foot South Boston development at its final 2023 meeting on December 21. Chair Yasha Franklin-Hodge led the board through 11 public hearings, unanimously approving new public ways, widened sidewalks, protected bike lanes, a South Bay Harbor Trail extension, and a flood barrier projection license system for the Channelside Acquisitions LLC project on A Street, Binford Street, and Necco Street, brought forward by developer Related Beal. Franklin-Hodge raised a concern about a critical pedestrian crossing over a private driveway known as Garage Access Way, noting it sits "wholly outside of the public way," and called for future easement discussions. The commission also unanimously approved provisional street repairs along American Legion Highway in West Roxbury, with a commitment that non-compliant pedestrian ramps will be reconstructed. Franklin-Hodge announced that the city had just been awarded $14.4 million from the Federal Safe Streets for All grant program for signal safety improvements, a fund that carries no established priority list yet.