Designers May Compete on Design of Surface Artery

BOSTON-The city is considering having various designers submit plans on how best to design the look of part of the 30-acre Surface Artery, which will be exposed once the Big Dig finishes putting the highway underground. Developing a piece of land this size and this valuable is proving to be daunting to its planners.

“They are talking about getting some designers to compete,” Bob Bliss, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, tells GlobeSt.com. According to Bliss, it is the waterfront area here that is proving to be most difficult to create a plan that satisfies all relevant parties, including local neighborhoods, state and local agencies and the public.

Designing the Surface Artery has been a source of contention for over a year now as various groups–the city, the state, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority–argue over who will govern it and who will pay for its maintenance. According to Meredith Bauman of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Central Artery Surface Restoration Commission will be meeting shortly to continue discussing plans for the Artery. “There are still no definitive answers on who is overseeing it,” she tells GlobeSt.com.