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Straighten the Pike, and Then Cover It

Cities Infrastructure & Transportation

Boston’s paramount need for more affordable housing must be embedded in any plan for the city. As Mayor Michelle Wu and Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Jamey Tesler campaign for federal funding to straighten and lower the Mass Pike in Allston, they should be thinking about how many new structures could be built on a deck above the highway.

Building more housing in the city promotes affordability, reduces carbon emissions by shortening commutes and reducing car use, and enables people to find better jobs closer to home. We should aim to increase the annual growth of the housing stock in Boston from about 4,000 units to over 6,000 units in order to take care of even a fraction of those who want to live in the city.

Continue reading the entire piece here at the Boston Globe

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Edward L. Glaeser is the Glimp professor of economics at Harvard University, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and contributing editor at City Journal.

David Cutler is professor of applied economics at Harvard. 

This piece originally appeared in Boston Globe