Massachusetts Turnpike Authority
Environmental
Environmental
The Central Artery/Tunnel project is one of the most extensively reviewed public highway projects under federal and state environmental statutes and regulations. The reviews emphasize construction-period mitigation measures as well as permanent environmental improvements.
As a result of the project, Boston and other communities will see important environmental benefits including improved air quality, capped landfills and increased parkland.
The environmental review process began in 1982, eight years prior to construction, to meet requirements under both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA). The first Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report (FEIS/R) was approved in 1985. In 1990 a supplemental (FSEIS/R) was approved for the South Boston Haul/Bypass Road.
The projectwide Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Report (FSEIS/R) received a certificate from the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) in January 1991 and its formal approval from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), known as the Record of Decision, in May 1991. After receiving the Record of Decision the project was given the green light to begin advertising construction contracts. This 5000-page, 12-volume FSEIS/R weighed in at 44 pounds and was extensively reviewed by agencies and the public, who commented on the document in writing and at public hearings. Later in 1994 a supplemental FSEIS/R specifically for the Charles River Crossing was approved.
All these documents and their draft and summary documents are available for review and copying at the Transportation Library at 10 Park Plaza in Boston.
In order to authorize and maintain construction, thousands of other federal, state and local environmental permits, licenses and approvals are required. In addition, ongoing environmental review of project changes and permit modifications by the agencies and the public continue.
Here are the three major environmental areas:
Digging and Dumping Dirt
Mitigation
Air Quality
Digging and Dumping Dirt
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Digging and dumping dirt not only earned the Central Artery/Tunnel project its
nickname "the Big Dig," but presented it with its biggest challenge: How do you
safely and appropriately handle more than 16 million cubic yards of dirt and over
a million cubic yards of dredged sediments?
Through the environmental review process, the challenge evolved into plans and
later in the mid-1990s into an innovative materials reuse program that has benefitted
many communities in Massachusetts and some other parts of New England.
From 1993 to 1998 more than 4,400 bargeloads of dirt were taken to Spectacle
Island in Boston Harbor, where an old dump was capped to make way for a new park.
About 3 million cubic yards of Boston Blue Clay was made available to cities and
towns to cap landfills that have reached capacity. The clay and other Big Dig
soils have contributed to the closure of municipal landfills in Acton, Boston,
Foxboro, Middleboro, Middleton, Milton, Natick, Needham, Norwood, Plymouth, Quincy,
Raynham, Saugus, Scituate, Taunton, Walpole and Weymouth; a state-owned landfill
in North Andover, and solid-waste disposal sites in Chelmsford and Middleton;
the closure of portions of the Central Landfill in Johnston, Rhode Island, and
contributed to the closure of landfills in Meriden and New Haven, Connecticut.
Many of these sites have been redeveloped for recreational use, or parks, playing
fields or golf courses.
In addition, more than one million cubic yards of clean dredged clay from construction
of the Ted Williams Tunnel have been deposited at the Massachusetts Bay Disposal Site (MBDS), under the supervision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Finally,
about 435,000 cubic yards of contaminated or hazardous soils is being treated
and recycled or landfilled at properly licensed facilities, mainly located outside
of Massachusetts.
The links below will take you to additional information about how we are digging
and dumping dirt:
What are we Digging?
Fill, clay, glacial till. Read all about what was dug and how deep in the ground
the digging went.
Quarry Hills
In Quincy, excavated material transformed three adjoined landfills into a major
new recreational complex.
Spectacle Island
See how the island has been transformed from a former dump in Boston Harbor to
a new park.
Gardner Street Landfill
This site in the West Roxbury section of Boston was closed with 400,000 cubic
yards of CA/T historic fill.
Granite Rail Quarry
The capping of a 200 ft. deep quarry with 710,000 tons of fill.
Mitigation
The project had to also remain friendly to the environment during construction.
With construction scheduled to last from 1991 to 2005, the economic vitality of
the city depended on the project allowing businesses to operate normally, traffic
and pedestrians to move comfortably through the downtown, and residents to endure
as little disruption to their lives as possible.
Read the overview of our full mitigation efforts, including our noise control program.
Two significant mitigation programs:
Rumney Marsh Restoration
Restoration of marshland in Revere.
Artificial Reef System
A new home in Boston Harbor for blue mussels and other sea life.
Air Quality
Find out about the methods that the project uses for controlling diesel air pollution
and maintaining air quality control.
Controlling Diesel Air Pollution - controlling air pollution from equipment.
Make sure that you look at our archaeology section for more about what's been and being dug up, as well as where you can
see it.