TheCambridge Record
Agenda ItemsPolicy Orders

POR 2026-62

Supporting East Cambridge Planning Team's Letter in Favor of Boston-Cambridge Riverwalk Construction at Science Park Project

How it started
Mar 23, 2026 · Proposed by Councillors Zusy and Flaherty: a formal request from the Council to the administration. Introduced late, under Rule 36A: added after the agenda was published, so it reached the floor only on a suspension of the rules.
What happened
Mar 23, 2026 · ✅ Order adopted as amended (Adopted as amended by substitution, unanimous)

Voted yes (9), unanimous

  • Ayah Al-Zubi
  • Burhan Azeem
  • Tim Flaherty
  • Marc McGovern
  • Patty Nolan
  • E. Denise Simmons
  • Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
  • Cathie Zusy
  • Sumbul Siddiqui
Roll call of Mar 23, 2026 · from the council’s minutes · photos: City of Cambridge
What’s next
No response on the docket: nothing has been filed back under this request's number. Answers sometimes arrive as other items; this ledger tracks only this one.
The document Agenda item attachment · 2 pages
🏛 The city's agenda for this meeting: Mar 23, 2026the city publishes no page for a single item: this one is a row on that agenda📄 Download original PDF

On March 18, 2026, the East Cambridge Planning Team submitted a letter

to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator Edward Markey, U.S. Representative Stephen F. Lynch, and U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley to support funding for the next phase of the Boston-Cambridge Riverwalk Construction at Science Park Project; and

The East Cambridge Planning Team is a neighborhood organization that

has worked for the betterment of the East Cambridge community since 1965; and

On October 8, 2025, the East Cambridge Planning Team voted favorably

on the Riverwalk proposal; and

The proposed Boston-Cambridge Riverwalk Construction at Science Park

Project would construct a new shared use path connection on the west side of the Museum of Science, connecting the Boston and Cambridge sides of the Charles River, across a series of bridges and boardwalks; and The proposed project would improve the safety and mobility of residents and visitors as they walk, run, bike, and picnic over the riverfront without needing to traverse on the Charles River Dam Road, a main thoroughfare with heavy and frequent motor vehicle traffic; and The proposed project would help the vitality of wildlife in the Charles River and support environmental education for those walking along the river; and The proposed project could help increase the number of visitors and tourists who frequent East Cambridge, one of Cambridge’s most diverse neighborhoods, home to many small, family-owned businesses; and The East Cambridge Planning Team has written in support of the proposed project, which would allow DCR, MassDOT, and MOS to advance a 2023 federally-funded feasibility study to a 25% design state, including but not limited to a site investigation, alternative analysis, robust public outreach and engagement activities, development of conceptual designs, cost estimates, and advancement of a preferred alternative; and The East Cambridge Planning Team has asked that there be an addition of $3 million through the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban

Development’s Economic Development Initiatives account in the FY2027

Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

Appropriations bill to advance the Boston-Cambridge Riverwalk Construction at Science Park project to the 25% Design state; now therefore be it ORDERED: That the City Council go on record in support of the East Cambridge

Planning’s Team letter regarding the Boston-Cambridge Riverwalk

Construction at Science Park Project.

A true copy; ATTEST:- Paula M. Crane,

Interim City Clerk

🗓 The meeting where this was taken up: Mar 23, 2026
Agenda item attachment2 pages📖 readable here
Amended by substitution POR 2026 622 pages📖 readable here