The central artery/tunnel project preservation program

Abstract

The Central Artery/Tunnel Project in Boston is the largest and most complex highway project ever undertaken in the core of a major American city. The project will replace an existing elevated highway, which passes through Boston’s historic downtown, with a new underground expressway. In 1984 a Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between transportation authorities and historic preservation agencies set stipulations designed to preserve and protect archaeological and historic resources within and adjacent to the project right-of-way. Started in the earliest planning stages of the project, the Central Artery/Tunnel Project Preservation Program implemented the MOA through historic structure survey and recording projects, review of future development plans, the Project Conservator Program to protect buildings during construction, and archaeological survey, site examination, and data recovery. The program has surveyed over 450 historic structures, developed guidelines and specifications for protection of potentially impacted historic structures, provided criteria for building and construction monitoring programs, identified and recovered four National Register eligible archaeological sites, and conducted a public information and education program.