Democrats Send Boston’s Traffic Plan for a Loop

Organizers of July’s Democratic National Convention announced Thursday that the region’s busiest interstate highway will be closed during morning and evening rush hours while the four-day gathering is in progress.

Along with shutting down a portion of Interstate 93, convention security planners said that they would close bridges, tunnels and some secondary highways. Interstate 93 passes directly in front of the Fleet Center, where the Democratic Convention will be held from July 26 to 29.

The announcement unleashed frustration from Boston commuters who have only just begun to recover from 12 years of disruption caused by “the Big Dig,” the $15-billion project that resulted in a seven-mile stretch of I-93 being sunk beneath Boston while the elevated Central Artery that preceded it was torn down.

On Thursday, a message board on the Boston Globe’s website was jammed with disgruntled voices.

A running survey conducted on the Globe website showed 88% of respondents decrying the traffic mess as too high a price to pay for hosting the convention. Only 12% said the disruption was worth it, and that Boston was “a world-class city that can handle” the inconvenience.

But Paul Guzzi, president and chief executive of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, took a rosier approach, saying, “It’s only four days, it’s the end of July, it’s a challenge and it is manageable.”

State police spokesman Maj. Michael Mucci said the highway would be closed from about 4 p.m. each day of the convention until about 1 a.m., when delegates leave the arena. About 200,000 commuters daily use the I-93 tunnel near the Fleet Center.

“Our best guess is we are going to severely impact traffic,” Mucci said.

In March, a preliminary version of the security plan revealed that North Station, a commuter rail and subway station directly below the Fleet Center, would be closed for the last week of July. About 24,000 rail commuters use North Station daily.

Garages near the Fleet Center will be emptied during the convention. Commuter ferry service also will be suspended. Random car searches were expected.

“It’s a different world, post 9/11,” said Guzzi, who described the security plan Thursday at a breakfast for Boston business owners. “There are clearly challenges, and they are all based on security issues.”

Katie Ford, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety, said the security plan was developed as a “collaborative effort” headed by the U.S. Secret Service.

Ford said the Chamber of Commerce held a breakfast Thursday to encourage business owners to allow employees to work flexible hours, telecommute or take vacation during the convention.

The city’s largest employer, the health partnership that runs Massachusetts General Hospital, has said it would cancel all elective surgeries during the convention. The hospital complex is located several blocks from the Fleet Center.

Courthouses nearby were still weighing how they would adapt to the traffic constraints.

Mac Daniel, who writes the “Stops and Starts” transportation column for the Globe, said Thursday that the advance notice would help companies plan for difficulties on area roadways.

“They are giving us plenty of notice. But still, like Los Angeles, this is a city that likes its cars,” Daniel said. “And for those people who either can’t fathom taking the T [subway] or who can’t get time off from work, that last week in July has the makings of a real nightmare.”