Welcome to the "Free the Blackstone" Feasibility Study!

Welcome to the website of Worcester's Blackstone Canal Task Force. Our primary link connects to the award-winning Free the Blackstone feasibility study, which was commissioned to examine the concept of "daylighting" the subterreanean, 150 year old canal. The study proposes a linked series of proposals for re-creating and re-interpreting two of the city's most significant natural and historic resources: The Mill Brook and the Blackstone Canal. Other links will take you to historical narratives and informational documents regarding the project.

Blackstone Canal 1800's

Blackstone River today

The Context

The Blackstone Canal Project in the City of Worcester dates from the mid-1990s, when the City Manager and his Chief Development Officer formed a citizen committee to study the possibility of unearthing the historic Blackstone Canal from its repose beneath the streets of the city. It was later identified by the Development Officer as the first of a short list of “high impact” projects in the city, and in June of 2003 an award-winning feasibility study was completed by Rizzo Associates, ICON Architects, The Williams Group and Daniel R. Benoit and Associates.

The study proposes a four part plan for reinterpreting the Blackstone Canal within the city, a plan which connects thematically with ongoing development activities throughout the Blackstone Valley. The original canal, which established a commercial link between Worcester and Providence in the first half of the 19th century, played an important role in the valley as the “birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution.” Its recreation in Worcester today would form the lynchpin of efforts throughout the Valley to use the legacy of the canal for the enhancement of tourism and regional identity.

The Blackstone Canal Task Force has chosen to focus on Sector One of the feasibility study, which involves the replication of the canal along its historic route along what is now Harding Street in Worcester, from Union Station to Kelley Square. The area was once the seat of much of the city’s Eastern European immigration activity and now embodies many of the principles of so-called Smart Growth urban design philosophy. The City was able to get a total of $17.5 million written into the state highway bond bill – approximately half the projected cost of the project – and the Task Force has carried out a very effective program of face-to-face project presentation with local business owners, property owners, politicians and residents, resulting in a roster of more than 300 project supporters. The plan has been officially endorsed by the Worcester City Council; and a Blackstone Canal Summit, convened by Congressman James McGovern, drew more than 200 people to Union Station in February of 2005.


The Project

The Blackstone Canal Project consists of the replication of the historic canal down Harding Street in the upper Green Island area of the city, creating a five-block, pedestrian, waterside environment. It would begin at the southern entrance to the renovated Union Station, with a turning basin, public plaza and marketplace, and it would extend downstream to the northern edge of Kelley Square, where it would feature a recreation of Lock 48, a waterfall and a small public plaza. Through-traffic would be discontinued along its route, and design standards and incentives would be established to induce abutters to develop their properties in ways that enhanced and took advantage of the canal. All cross streets would be maintained, and pedestrian bridges would be established at points mid-block to unite the two halves of the district.

The purpose of the project is to use the waterway as a catalyst for urban renaissance. It would give the area a thematic identity, making it distinctive and attractive both as a place of residence and a tourist destination, immediately adjacent to I-290. The continuing popularity of commuter rail, the successful tenanting of Union Station, the suitability of the existing close-grained building stock for both housing and commercial development, the completion of the Route 146 project into this sector of the city, and the immediate access to Route 290 at Kelley Square all position the area for economic take-off. Much of its building stock is already being renovated into loft apartments – a form of housing that was previously unknown in the city and which is attracting a new kind of urban resident. Existing deli owners, bar owners and restauranteurs along the canal route are all eager to take advantage of waterfront locations.

The cost of the project, including its public marketplace, has been estimated at $34 million, approximately the cost of the renovation of Union Station itself. The private sector development spin-off in the area has been estimated at several times that amount, supported by water-reclamation experiences in such diverse locations as Lowell, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Chatanooga, Providence and elsewhere. The success of public marketplaces as economic generators throughout cities in the United States have been well-documented, and a recent analysis of Waterfire in Providence showed that event to have attracted over $34 million annually into the local economy.

The next phase of the project consists of the production of actual design and engineering documents, whose cost has been estimated at $2-3 million.

If you would like to contact someone about the project please e-mail canal@wpltd.com.

* Photography provided by John Carter