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Council asks manager to continue talks on MBTA tunnel feasibility after business groups propose study
Summary
The council asked the city manager to continue discussions with the MBTA and the Harvard Square Business Association about exploring feasibility of repurposing the long-abandoned MBTA tunnel in Harvard Square; staff said further scoping with MBTA is needed before committing larger feasibility funds.
The Cambridge City Council on Sept. 29 directed the city manager to continue conversations with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and the Harvard Square Business Association (HSBA) about exploring the feasibility of reusing the long-abandoned MBTA tunnel beneath Harvard Square.
Representatives of the Harvard Square Business Association and the Harvard Square business community urged the council to fund a feasibility study to consider converting the 13,000-square-foot MBTA-owned tunnel into cultural or commercial space. Jessica Scully of the Harvard Square Business Association said a feasibility study is a step to "understand what's possible" and is not a commitment to construction.
City staff reported they are in ongoing discussions with the MBTA and that scoping a feasibility study requires coordination with the MBTA’s internal review process; staff cautioned that engineering, code and accessibility work could make the timeline long and costly. The city manager recommended refining requirements with the MBTA before budgeting for a full feasibility phase; staff noted an initial scope-proposal cost circulated by HSBA was about $72,000 to develop an RFP and that a full feasibility study could run substantially higher.
Councilors expressed support for continuing exploratory work while also urging near-term actions to revitalize Harvard Square public space. The council placed the manager’s communication on file and asked staff to continue talks with the MBTA; the council did not appropriate funds for a full feasibility study at this meeting.
