Boston Magazine Editor Argues for At-Grade Option on Casey Overpass

The executive editor of Boston Magazine has chosen sides in the Casey Overpass debate: He's firmly in the "at-grade" solution camp.

If we go with a surface option, we’re going to save $21 million, get more park space, and add protected bike lanes. Not to mention reconnecting Frederick Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace between the Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park? And we could finally rejoin the Forest Hills neighborhood with the rest of Jamaica Plain, like we did with the North End to great effect? Yes, please.

That's how Patrick Doyle puts it in a blog post that criticizes State Rep. Liz Malia and bridge supporters of having a "myopic focus on cars."

But as the rhetoric heats up on both sides, some facts are being obscured. For instance, in Doyle's post he correctly says that the surface option would add more park space. The bridge option adds more park space too, albeit in a different location. The surface option would expand the Southwest Corridor Park while the bridge option would create new green space closer to .

The pro-bridge side is also guilty of errors of fact. For instance, a flyer being handed out at Thursday's "State of JP" forum claimed Forest Hills is home to 165,000 people! It is attached as a PDF.

The unsafe, crumbling Casey Overpass will be torn down. The state has winnowed options down to two plans: a new, smaller, lower bridge or a surface solution with no bridge. The state is supposedly going to make a choice by the end of the month, Malia told Patch on Thursday. The decision was originally going to be made public in December, but was pushed back.