OP-ED: Hazardous Materials

Note: The following is an op-ed piece from the office of State Senator Katherine Clark:

A recent proposal by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation would reroute hazardous materials away from Boston’s North End and waterfront to Routes 93 and 128. The proposed shift of trucks carrying hazardous material from their current route to our neighborhoods presents questions of safety and practicality that are concerning.

Routes 128 and 93 already suffer from significant congestion, and the addition of several hundred new trucks a day is sure to exacerbate an already troublesome situation.  It is common for drivers to abandon the highway when it is at a standstill and commute through our neighborhood streets.  The potential for trucks to carry hazardous material through our communities presents a real threat to the safety of our constituents. 

While traffic is a persistent problem along the proposed route, the problem is especially glaring at the Routes 128 and 93 Interchange.  The Department of Transportation has acknowledged the congestion in the area when investigating potential remedies, and available crash data has shown that the Interchange has significant safety problems, ranking as one of the worst crash sites in Massachusetts.   Adding several hundred trucks a day carrying hazardous material presents a real danger to our communities.

A recent study by the Battelle Memorial Institute acknowledges that Boston and Cambridge are the only two cities that have dedicated Hazardous Materials Teams.  Our communities, in contrast, are dependent Massachusetts Department of Fire Services Regional Hazardous Materials Teams.  While the study states that the Boston team could respond to an accident within 15 minutes, it would take much longer for a regional team to even stage before they are able to respond.  Local fire staffing levels and equipment are nowhere near sufficient to guarantee the public’s safety with a rapid response, while Boston and Cambridge are already prepared for such risks.

The Battelle study was conducted for the City of Boston and, while we do not question its methodology, it would be prudent to analyze this issue from the perspective of the other affected communities.  It appears that this choice of route is likely to have a far reaching impact on our communities than on those that are better able to absorb the increased traffic and better equipped for the potential danger.  I have been working with other legislators in neighboring communities to urge the Department of Transportation to establish a route that maintains safety standards while avoiding already overburdened roadways.

For more information on this study visit http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/uploads/31079_47_20_31.pdf. Comments and concerns on this issue are due to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation by September 23rd.