Yancey wants hearings on Casey project

City Councilor Charles Yancey, who represents parts of Forest Hills and Woodbourne, has filed a hearing order to review the Casey Arborway project and the impact it will have on the surrounding area.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced that night work will take place for the project starting Mon., April 13. National Grid is scheduled to install gas pipes along Forest Hills Street between Lotus and Morton streets. The work is expected to take place between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The Casey Arborway project will replace the Casey Overpass, which carries Route 203 over the Forest Hills T Station area. A new six- to eight-land surface road will be constructed. Demolition of the overpass is expected to start at the end of May.

Yancey’s hearing order states that the expected two-and-a-half- to three-year timeframe to finish the project brings “immediate and multifaceted challenges” to residents and visitors who use the roadway. The order states people routinely use that roadway to travel to the Longwood Medical Area, the Fenway and downtown for lifesaving medical services, employment, education and other activities.

The order further states that input from neighborhoods abutting the project, including Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park and Roslindale, and along Route 203, such as Jamaica Plain, is needed for traffic management and the “ongoing survival of businesses.” It asks for a series of meetings to examine several topics, including the “traffic density, safety and environmental health impacts” during and after the demolition of the overpass and the “unintended consequences” of “undesignated alternative traffic flow.”

The hearing order was on the agenda for the City Council meeting on April 8, after the Gazette deadline.

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