Local News

Long Island bridge plan not a ‘repair,’ DEP finds, potentially slowing project

Boston officials want to rebuild the bridge and the recovery campus on Long Island, but Quincy residents and officials have voiced concerns.

By Ross Cristantiello

December 22, 2023

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The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection recently ruled that Boston’s plan to rebuild the Long Island Bridge is not classified as a “repair” project. 

“In my view, this is clearly a slowdown message to Boston,” Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch told The Boston Globe. “There’s still a number of hurdles yet to go.”

Quincy and Boston have been engaged in a longstanding legal dispute over the bridge, which would connect to a new, modern recovery campus on Long Island. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu sees the rebuilding of the bridge and the campus as a major step in mitigating the region’s ongoing substance use crisis. 

The bridge would connect Long Island to Moon Island, which technically is owned by Boston but sits within Quincy’s municipal boundaries at its northern tip. Cars going to and from Long Island would have to pass through the North Quincy neighborhood of Squantum. 

The ruling, made by MassDEP presiding officer Margaret R. Stolfa, concerns a Chapter 91 license for the project, the Globe reported. 

Boston officials touted the fact that the city secured this draft license in August, saying it was the “most significant state approval” required to rebuild the bridge. When issuing a Chapter 91 license, officials assess a project’s potential impact on public access to the coastline and waterways. 

Stolfa ruled that there is no evidence of an existing license from 1949, and that the new bridge does not count as a “maintenance and repair” project, according to the Globe. The ruling does not impact the validity of the draft license. 

This is a “setback for Boston,” Koch told the paper. 

A hearing is planned for March regarding the license and Quincy’s appeal of its issuance. Officials will discuss the current state of the concrete pylons that are already in the water. Boston has proposed rebuilding the bridge on these pylons, per the Globe. 

The Long Island Bridge was closed in 2014 due to structural issues. In 2018, then-mayor Martin J. Walsh pledged to rebuild the bridge. Rehabbing Long Island’s dilapidated recovery campus and rebuilding the bridge have become priorities for Mayor Michelle Wu. 

The need for the services that would be offered there was felt this past year, when hundreds of people experiencing the overlapping crises of homelessness, mental health issues, and substance use regularly converged on the area known as Mass. and Cass. Public safety concerns rose significantly at Mass. and Cass over the summer, prompting the Wu administration to implement a major plan to clear out the encampments there. 

Quincy residents have raised concerns that rebuilding the bridge would negatively impact quality of life by increasing traffic and harming the local environment. Koch has urged Boston to consider using ferries instead.