The new transportation bond bill that passed in the legislature earlier this week earmarks over $100 million for a project that could reconfigure Storrow Drive to create more riverfront parkland on the Charles River Esplanade near the Longfellow Bridge.
The text of House bill 5248, which passed nearly unanimously in both chambers of the legislature early on Tuesday morning, includes the following language:
“Not less than $108,000,000 shall be expended for… the planning, design, development and construction of the relocation of a portion of Storrow Drive and its access ramps to Charles circle as necessary to consolidate the westbound lanes of Storrow Drive with the eastbound lanes under a single arch of the Longfellow bridge and the restoration to parkland and gardens … contiguous with the Esplanade parkland.”
Last week’s storm has created major hassles for pedestrians trying to navigate buried sidewalks, but there’s one silver lining: it’s left thousands of “sneckdowns,” places where snowbanks have narrowed down the roadway and forced cars to slow down considerably (a “snow neckdown”).
“The snow is almost like nature’s tracing paper,” Eckerson told the BBC in 2014. “It’s free. You don’t have to do a crazy expensive traffic calming study. It provides a visual cue into how people behave.”
In the Boston region, there’s been a flurry of Twitter posts with the #sneckdown hashtag published since last Thursday’s storm: