Access to the Inner Belt through the "tubes" can be an issue at times, but how long until the problem is solved?

By Andrew Firestone

With a few of the Mayor’s major developments on their way, City and State officials have begun considering the further development of another site nearby, the Inner Belt / Brickbottom neighborhoods of Somerville.

While Assembly Square may be an example of transforming a huge, dormant area into a lively urban village, the 125 acre Inner Belt faces another issue: how to transform a landlocked area with businesses already there into a transit-oriented urban center. The Inner Belt currently houses some industry, including the Angelica Linen Service, the city’s largest employer, and 200 artists at the nearby Brickbottom artist’s refuge.

Developments such as Interstate 695, the Big Dig, and even a proposed soccer stadium have been proposed in order to find a larger use for the area, but none has ever come to fruition. While the area currently includes many businesses and homes, it is a far cry from the development potential one would expect to find in an area bordering on Lechmere in Cambridge and Charlestown in Boston.

The origins for the Inner Belt’s troubles began over a century and a half ago, when the Boston-Lowell line bought up much of the land to lay tracks for their railroad to Downtown Boston. By the time development came on a modern scale 40 years ago, the area was already surrounded by highways and railroad tracks.

The Inner Belt, while far from uninhabited, has presented a unique challenge to the City for many years: it is completely cut off from access to Cambridge in the south, and hardly better from the north, where infamous “tubes,” tunnels too small to comfortably accommodate a tractor-trailer, cut under the old Lowell line rail. The area in Somerville closest to North Point in Cambridge is completely inaccessible.

However, new plans in the works hope to change this. The City announced that it would evict Waste Management, who currently run a trash transfer station, within a year. The Washington Street T station in the Green Line Extension may attract new developments itself, however the Massachusetts Department of Transportation also has a bigger plan; to take out the rise which complicates station design and de-elevate the McGrath Highway, Route 28.

“The overpass will be necessary for at least 10 years; the time for the planning study to lead to a funded construction project,” said MassDOT spokesman Richard Nangle. “The McCarthy Overpass will have a repair contract advertised for construction this fall.” The cost of the repairs will be 10 million.

“Putting 28 at street level would greatly enhance the economic potential of the whole area,” said Stephen Mackey, of Somerville’s Chamber of Commerce. “In the Inner Belt area, the key is to unlock the infrastructure that is already there by establishing better vehicular and pedestrian access in addition to transit service.”

Mackey was joined by City Spokesman Michael Meehan and Alderman-at-Large John Connolly, who said that access stood in the way of further connecting the Inner Belt to the City.

“With those guys, the fact that it could happen is probably the most important thing,” said Connolly of the 10 year time-frame. Connolly remembers riding the Lechmere bus past the old trash incinerator where the transfer station now stands, and looking up at the ashes as they fell like snow in August.

“As the T gets built, and Washington St. gets done here, you can see that if the McGrath O’Brien highway comes down, it will probably open up this entire roadway,” said Connolly, “so that this will provide a little opportunity for a little more dense commercial space.”

Connolly feels that the commercial potential in the Inner Belt is palpable, with its closeness to Boston and Cambridge. Development of the area could lead to more commercial property, taking the burden off of the residents and their property taxes. With the right pieces in order, said Connolly, the area could flourish like a smaller cousin to the nearby Assembly Square site.

Connolly foresees a day when the Inner Belt will become a real hub of transit, with a ‘T stop coming through, and commercial and residential space being opened up for new homeowners and vendors, possibly through a new public-private partnership endeavor, like with Federal Realty Investment Trust.

“To a large degree, its going to have to happen over here because the MBTA has such a big role in this, and the governor has indicated that, ‘yep, we understand there’s going to be a lot of changes in how this is going to be laid out here, moving this maintenance facility over so the city can access it,’ he said, referring the “Option L” discussion in designing the facilities used to construct the Green Line Extension; a plan which leaves more room for businesses and other buildings.

Meehan noted that the City sits in a unique seat among other municipalities in the region, in that it already had two major developments coming quickly down the line, and is poised more and more to deliver on becoming a new life center in the region. “The notion that Union Square and Assembly Square are ready to go helps create critical mass for the Inner Belt,” said Meehan.

“The State and the City can move and get some key private industry players together, maybe not as large as [Assembly Square] but there’s no reason that something can’t happen with 10 or 15 smaller developers,” Connolly said.

Both Connolly and Meehan felt that judicious zoning could result in a new living-center for Somerville, one with homes and business, tall office buildings, quick access to the city, and an ideal location. “All along we’ve never wanted to create commercial space without residential, because that’s just not sustainable,” said Meehan.

Meehan highlighted the City’s policy of developing “a thriving mix of uses” for the area, saying that only commercial development would leave the area as empty as they began with, which would not be wise for a hub.

He and Connolly were in agreement on one thing; the scope of the improvements in infrastructure needed. As Mackey pointed out, the only way to improve access to other areas was to either go under the tracks or go over them, meaning either a bridge or a tunnel, with new plans for street grids as well. Connolly commented that the planning would pose “a real headache of a problem” to say the least, while Meehan said the City was pushing for it, but had no concrete plans.