Staff are confident that money to pay for a bridge over Fitchburg Line train tracks will be found after designs are in place, which could be in around 18 months, the Cambridge City Council was told Monday.
The bridge would let walkers and bicyclists get easily between Danehy Park and the Rindge Avenue neighborhood to its north. (A second bridge is expected over tracks to the west, in the Cambridge Highlands area across Alewife Brook Parkway, part of a neighborhood to be built by the developer Healthpeak.)
The city owns a narrow strip of land north of the MBTA tracks and is expected to get an easement running alongside from the Cambridge Housing Authority at the south end of its Jefferson Park Federal affordable housing. Those 278 homes are under construction but expected to be completed by fall 2027.
The bridges have been wanted for decades, at least back to a Concord-Alewife Planning Study Report in 2005, consultants noted in August 2024. A council vote for appropriations of $1.2 million in city and grants funds gets the process started with design work that includes survey and geotechnical investigations, conceptual designs, community engagement and permitting.
With the appropriation done, the city will execute a contract quickly and take about 18 months to complete all that in coordination with the state, transportation commissioner Brooke McKenna said.
“Once we have the design, it would be shovel ready. And that usually opens up a lot of doors” for funding, McKenna said. “We are in a better place in terms of our confidence.”
The city expected to use $2.4 million from a federal Reconnecting Communities grant available during the Biden presidential administration. That was clawed back by the Trump administration, McKenna said, but now a collaboration with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council helps put Cambridge in “a very good position from a funding perspective.” The city will also look for additional federal support opportunities through the state Transportation Improvement Program.
Councillor Patty Nolan urged the city to keep collaborating as well with the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, which in December 2024 contributed an extensive report for the area. It was focused on the creation of publicly accessible paths and open space improvements. “While the neighborhood is geographically close to important community resources, physical barriers restrict convenient, direct access to nearby natural and local amenities,” the CRA found.
In addition to giving better access to the park, residents along Rindge could use a bridge over the train tracks to get more easily to the Fresh Pond Mall with its groceries, restaurants, services and movie theater.
“It’s fabulous that this project is advancing. It sounds like it’s been a little bit of a bumpy ride,” councillor Cathie Zusy said.
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