The InterContinental Boston Water Transportation Terminal, located on the Fort Point Channel between Russia Wharf and the InterContinental Boston Hotel/Residences, is now open to the public! The Boston Harbor Association has worked closely with Fred Laselva of Penfield's and Tim Kirwan of InterContinental Boston, as well as the MBTA, Massport, Seaport TMA, and the BRA on opening the terminal. Brochures, schedules, and maps on water transit services, including the on-call water taxi service at the dock right behind the InterContinental Boston, are available inside the terminal. Visitors will also be able to buy small gifts and bottled beverages and use two public rest rooms within the kiosk from 7 a.m. to dusk, seven days a week through Columbus Day. The InterContinental Boston water transportation terminal is the newest amenity to the Harborwalk.

Brochures, schedules, and maps on water transit
services, are available inside the terminal.

Boston Harbor Now Designated as
No Discharge Area

The Boston Harbor became the largest urban port in the U.S. to be designated as a “No Discharge Area” (NDA) by the Environmental Protection Agency. All commercial and recreational boats are prohibited from releasing sewage within three miles of the shoreline. Instead, both treated and untreated wastewater from boats must be pumped out at one of more than 35 pump-out facilities. The Boston Harbor No Discharge Area stretches from Winthrop to Hull, and is the second largest of Massachusetts’s ten NDAs, affecting over 4000 boats in the Boston area.

Establishing a No Discharge Area will protect public health, reduce toxic pollution, reduce nitrogen loading, and protect our coastal economy. Even treated sewage can release nitrogen and other nutrients that cause algae blooms in the water. Pumping out wastewater instead of releasing it into the harbor will prevent bacteria and chemical pollutants from contaminating Boston Harbor. Mayor Thomas Menino announced that two new pump-out facilities will be built in the Charlestown Navy Yard and the Reserve Channel in South Boston to accommodate more boats.

Vivien Li, Executive Director of The Boston Harbor Association, joined Boston’s Chief of Environmental and Energy Services Jim Hunt, EPA Regional Administrator Robert Varney, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles, Jack Wiggin of the Urban Harbors Institute, and other environmental leaders, advocates, and harbormasters at a press conference on 7 July 2008 to announce the start of the new ban on discharge. To help enforce the No Discharge Area through educational outreach efforts, The Boston Harbor Association has been distributing copies of the MA Coastal Zone Management Program’s 2008 Boater’s Guide to Pump-out Facilities to local marinas and yacht clubs. For a copy, please email mail@tbha.org.

As a part of its commitment to promote water transportation in Boston Harbor, The Boston Harbor Association has launched a new website: www.bostonwatertransportation.com. Created in conjunction with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Office of Transportation, and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the new website includes detailed information on available water transportation services in Boston’s Inner Harbor, South Shore, and North Shore. The website was unveiled at the MBTA Water Transportation Awareness Week press conference on 24 June 2008.

Photo courtesy of the MBTA

At the press conference, Lt. Governor Tim Murray, MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas, Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen, and TBHA Executive Director Vivien Li spoke briefly on continuing efforts to promote water transportation options for commuters in the Greater Boston area. The MBTA also launched its new Wi-Fi Commuter Boat Pilot Program, which provides free internet access on all MBTA commuter boats. Speakers and attendees boarded an MBTA Harbor Express vessel at Long Wharf, where Lt. Governor Murray tested the new Wi-Fi connection by opening a link to TBHA’s Boston Water Transportation website.

A press release of the event is available at mbta.com.

Since its founding in 1973, The Boston Harbor Association (TBHA) has been working to promote a clean, alive, and accessible Boston Harbor. In recent years, as Boston Harbor has become cleaner and the waterfront more accessible to residents, workers, and visitors, The Boston Harbor Association has focused increased attention and advocacy on water transportation. Consistent with TBHA's strategic plan and 2008 workplan, The Boston Harbor Association has launched a multi-year Water Transportation Initiative. Charles Norris, leading authority on water transportation in Boston Harbor, and Alden Raine, national expert on transportation and urban development and former Executive Director of Massport, will co-chair TBHA's Water Transportation Working Group.

The Working Group will work to promote a robust water transportation network for Boston Harbor, hosting a series of meetings this year and subsequently releasing working papers on topics such as technical, market-based, economic, and mobility aspects related to water transportation. TBHA prides itself in providing expertise on a variety of Boston Harbor Issues, and we anticipate that the Working Group will enhance our discussions, continued advocacy, and collaboration with our colleagues and other organizations in promoting a comprehensive water transportation system.

TBHA Executive Director Vivien Li's 5 May 2008 Banker & Tradesman article on TBHA's water transportation initiative can be accessed here.

New 2008 HarborWalk Segments and Amenities

As a result of The Boston Harbor Association’s advocacy as well as the efforts of others, several new additions to the HarborWalk have been added in 2008. Kudos to the Boston Redevelopment Authority for installing some of the most striking additions to the HarborWalk. Installed in early 2008, the new chairs (see right) along the Long Wharf HarborWalk have fast become a favorite of tourists, school children, and residents.

In keeping with the goal of making the harbor accessible, TBHA worked with the Coast Guard to reopen a portion of the HarborWalk next to Boston's Coast Guard base in the North End. This portion of the walk was closed for security reasons following 11 September 2001.

Thanks to an arrangement with the Coast Guard's Integrated Support Command, the pier end of their site next to the Mirabella Swimming Pool will now be open seasonally during daylight hours through 1 November 2008 (see left). TBHA thanks base commanding officer Captain Scott Keene and the Coast Guard for their support in opening up this space to the general public.

In addition, a portion of the HarborWalk on and near Lovejoy Wharf next to the North Washington Street Bridge, completed by the property owner and the Central Artery/Tunnel project, opened in summer 2008. This HarborWalk segment connects Prince Street Park in the North End to Lovejoy Wharf, and offers great views of the waterfront and the Zakim Bridge.

Planning is underway by both Federal Express and NSTAR for construction of new HarborWalk segments by the Federal Express facility and by NSTAR’s HarborWalk segment in South Boston. When completed by the end of 2008, theses two segments will provide a more complete HarborWalk along the Reserved Channel.

The brand new section of HarborWalk surrounding the Battery Wharf development is now open to the public. Public restrooms and a second floor observation deck opened in August 2008. The HarborWalk is lit up at night thanks to illuminated railings, and features like benches, telescopes, and a water taxi station will be completed later this summer. An information center for the general public and a second-floor observation deck will provide much-welcomed amenities to this portion of the waterfront.

In addition, the completion of repairs to the Congress Street Bridge over the Fort Point Channel later this year will include the addition of a new HarborWalk segment on Dorchester Avenue across from the Federal Reserve Bank.

Significant progress has been made in the completion and maintenance of Boston’s HarborWalk, according to The Boston Harbor Association’s Vivien Li in an October, 2007 Banker & Tradesman article. To read, please click here. And once the above HarborWalk segments open, the HarborWalk public access network will be close to 83% complete.

Read more Harbor News