Dispute Over Surface Artery Design

Planners and design organizations are criticizing "the lack of vision" in the design for the Wharf District section of the Surface Artery in Boston.

1 minute read

July 25, 2003, 6:00 AM PDT

By Connie Chung


EDAW, a design firm, and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority have come under fire from city officials, planners, designers and some members of the community, for their "lackluster design ideas for a prime piece of the new Surface Artery." Boston's chief planner "charged that city officials were being shut out of the important park's design process and said authority officials are failing to coordinate work with the other two areas: the North End and the Chinatown/Leather districts." City officials "have never liked the broad control the Turnpike Authority has exercised over the design of 30 acres of land the city eventually expects to control. Years of efforts to determine who will own, maintain, and control the space, to be known as the Rose Kennedy Greenway, have failed, leaving the Turnpike Authority in control, by default."

Thanks to Connie Chung

Thursday, July 24, 2003 in The Boston Globe

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