That the Cambridge City Council go on record requesting that MassDOT begin engaging with Cambridge residents and the Cambridgeport neighborhood early and often throughout the BU Rotary/Reid Overpass Reconstruction

O-2 FIRST IN COUNCIL June 10, 2024 City of Cambridge VICE MAYOR MCGOVERN COUNCILLOR SIDDIQUI COUNCILLOR SOBRINHO-WHEELER WHEREAS: The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is currently in the process of planning a major reconstruction project of the BU Rotary/Reid Overpass, which will have significant impacts on the Cambridgeport neighborhood; and WHEREAS: The Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association has asked MassDOT to enhance their civic engagement efforts on this project, including specific requests for a project web page and a community meeting once MassDOT's design consultant has completed their initial technical analysis and alternatives evaluation, before they undertake any significant engineering or design work; and WHEREAS: In their typical process, MassDOT would not have a public meeting for this project until the 25% design hearing, at which time MassDOT would have already selected a design approach and invested significant time and money into design development; and WHEREAS: By that point, MassDOT would be very reluctant to have meaningful engagement with the residents of Cambridge and Cambridgeport about a project that will have major effects on our city and our neighborhood for the next century; now therefore be it ORDERED: That the Cambridge City Council go on record requesting that MassDOT begin engaging with Cambridge residents and the Cambridgeport neighborhood early and often throughout this process; and be it further ORDERED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to forward a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution to Monica Tibbits-Nutt, Secretary of MassDOT, Governor Maura Healey, and the Cambridge delegation in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate.