How disappointing to read in the Gazette elected officials and residents saying Jamaica Plain needs to accept MassDOT’s decision to eliminate the Casey Overpass and embrace the six-lane highway that would replace it. (“Casey opposition gets louder, but doesn’t sway officials,” March 15.) JP needs to “move forward” and work together to lessen the impacts of this horrible decision. Well, folks, you can’t put a shine on a sneaker.
If it weren’t for elected officials and residents who refused to accept the decision of the Mass. Department of Public Works to build I-95 through Jamaica Plain and other communities in the 1960s, we’d have the Southwest Expressway through the heart of JP today. They didn’t stop challenging a bad plan and ultimately convinced Gov. Sargent to cancel the highway and say that famous phrase, “…we were wrong.”
Anne McKinnon
Jamaica Plain
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I completely agree with Clay here. The design of the new at grade Casey Arborway will look more like the Jamaica Way and the Riverway, than like a highway. These are not perfect roadways, but far better than the ugly behemoth that is the overpass. This new design is not only better for the traffic, and surrounding communities, but will also make for a more consistent design all along the roadway.
Though I’m grateful to prior generations for blocking the proposed I-95 project through Jamaica Plain 40+ years ago, I fail to understand how replacing the current eyesore and psychological barrier of the Casey Overpass with a boulevard lined with trees, sidewalks and bike paths resembles a highway in any way.
The Casey Arborway traffic will be calmed by traffic lights at virtually every
block between Shea Circle and the Arboretum, giving us all an opportunity to
look up and enjoy the newly visible sky. In studying the transportation configurations of the immediate area over the last 125 years, the current plans seem to me to be by far the most rational ever proposed. Are they perfect? Not yet. Let's work together to make them more so.
Clay Harper
Jamaica Plain