Specialty
Air Quality
SECTOR
Commercial
Transportation
TYPE
Permitting / Compliance
CLIENTELE
Private Sector
TIMESPAN
1995-2002LOCATION
Boston, MA
Project Number:
1303Intercontinental Hotel & Residences
SERVICE:
Refined Air Dispersion Modeling for Air Rights Development
DESCRIPTION:
The Central Artery/Tunnel Project, often called the "Big Dig," rerouted the Central Artery (Interstate 93), the chief controlled-access highway through the heart of Boston, into a 3.5 mile tunnel under the city. One of the massive ventilation buildings for this tunnel (500 Atlantic Avenue Vent Building #3) was constructed on the site of a former Boston Edison Co. substation on Atlantic Avenue. To ensure adequate dispersal of motor vehicle fumes, a total of fourteen 240-foot-tall stacks were built.
Boston Edison proposed to construct a 17-story building (500 Atlantic Avenue) as an air rights development that would wrap around the vent building stacks. However, this development threatened to increase building downwash effects in the high-density downtown area, with a potentially adverse effect on air quality for nearby office buildings. Tech Environmental helped Boston Edison make the hotel and condominium complex a reality by demonstrating to the Massachusetts DEP and the Highway Department that a modest extension of the stacks would fully protect air quality in the downtown area while still concealing Vent Building No. 3 with the air rights structure. To achieve this, Tech Environmental crafted a refined air dispersion modeling analysis that proved regulatory compliance by utilizing both physical (wind tunnel) modeling and analytical modeling. 500 Atlantic Avenue, now known as the InterContinental Hotel & Residences, was declared one of the "Best Places to Live" by Boston Magazine.
