KSURP and Kendall Square Area Mobility

For over 20 years transportation in Kendall Square has been carefully studied by the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority (CRA) and the City of Cambridge to assess whether the transit-oriented goals of the Kendall Square Urban Renewal Plan (KSURP) and transportation demand management programs were being met. Through traffic counts and tenant travel surveys the CRA has found that most Kendall Square area employees commute by public transit and walking, with a growing proportion of employees commuting by bicycle, resulting in a low single-occupancy automobile commute mode share to the area. 

This report presents the latest update to the annual reporting of traffic counts, mode choice, and associated transportation activity data. The transportation data report has been conducted on an annual basis from 1994–2014. In 2015, traffic and tenant survey data were collected but not analyzed and no report was published. In 2016 and 2017, only tenant survey data was collected, but no traffic data was collected due to anomalies created by the Main Street reconstruction project, the Longfellow Bridge closure, and the intermittent closure of several streets due to the ongoing construction along Broadway, Ames Street, and Main Street. In 2018 and 2019, new transportation data and tenant surveys were collected.

For those familiar with the past reports, you will find the typical traffic data reporting for the KSURP area. This report also shares transportation data for the broader Kendall Square neighborhood.

Since 1977, the CRA has undertaken the successful redevelopment of the 24-acre Mixed Use District (MXD) within the original 42-acre KSURP area. In 1979 the CRA selected Boston Properties Limited Partnership (BXP) as the Master Developer for what was then referred to as Cambridge Center in the MXD district. Boston Properties remains the primary property owner in the MXD district with other owners being Whitehead Institute, The Broad Institute, Residence Inn, and Biogen.

These development partnerships have resulted in the creation of an economic hub of 3.6 million square feet of office, retail, lab, innovation, hotel and residential development along with road improvements, transit investment, parking garages, open space enhancements and the addition of other public amenities. Kendall Square has developed into one of the state’s most important economic development engines and a national center for technological and biomedical innovation.

The KSURP Mixed-Use District (MXD) properties comprise about 13 percent of the greater Kendall Square area. While the broader Kendall Square area has grown roughly 33 percent in the last fifteen years, the KSURP MXD has grown by 66 percent in terms of development. A total of 10 properties in and around Kendall Square are subject to annual PTDM monitoring and reporting consistent with the City of Cambridge's Parking and Transportation Demand Management (PTDM) Ordinance and Policy. Additional properties are also subject to special permit requirements for transportation monitoring.

The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority (CRA) works in close partnership with the City of Cambridge and other public and private organizations to implement imaginative and creative development that achieves social equity and environmental sustainability. The CRA’s work includes the implementation of a land-use concept plan that seeks to create a mix of uses throughout Kendall Square, with greatest density and height around the MBTA’s Kendall/MIT Red Line station. Through the KSURP Implementation Plan, the CRA also seeks to positively impact five focus areas identified as priorities for the future development of Kendall Square: transportation, open space, economic development, sustainability and housing.

The mode share for SOV (Single Occupancy Vehicle) (driving alone) has been decreasing over the past several years, and now accounts for just under 40 percent of typical commutes for employees in the Kendall Square area. The share of sustainable travel modes (transit, walking, and bicycling) comprise about 50 percent of commuter transportation choices.

For the broader Kendall Square area, sustainable transportation modes comprise about 50 percent of commuter travel choices. Trends show a decreasing share of driving alone to work as a primary commute mode choice.

Not surprisingly, Cambridge neighborhoods and the city’s surrounding communities, such as Somerville, Medford, Arlington, Belmont, and Watertown, have a relatively larger share of Kendall Square employee commute trip origins, as does Boston’s Jamaica Plain, South Boston, and South End/Lower Roxbury neighborhoods. Further away, suburbs to the northeast, such as Lexington and Acton, are common trip origins, too, as is Quincy to the south.

The following series of maps show the distribution of employee commute trip origins and commute destination of residents from both U.S. Census survey data and Cambridge's PTDM travel survey data.

Employee commute trips originating from inner suburbs to the west, suburbs in the Metrowest, and suburbs to the north and North Shore, tend to have a higher mode share of driving alone. Many of these communities are not directly on a Commuter Rail line, apart from those along the Lowell and Haverhill Lines in the north, the Newburyport and Rockport Lines in the North Shore, and along the Worcester/Framingham Line to the west. The lines to the north and northeast terminate their inbound service at North Station.

Transit appears to capture a higher share of employee commute trip origins in communities that are served by Commuter Rail lines that connect to South Station from suburbs to the south and South Shore (Franklin Line, Providence Line, and the Old Colony lines). These lines offer a connection to the Red Line at South Station. However, although the Worcester/Framingham Line also connects to South Station, the communities served by that line do not appear to draw as many commuters to transit. These communities are also served by the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Transit tends to capture a higher share of employee commute origins in the northwestern suburbs along the Fitchburg Line, which connects to the Red Line at Porter Square. Transit also captures a higher share of commuters to Kendall Square from neighborhoods around Red Line stations.

The following series of maps shows the distribution employee commute origins by ZIP code according to the share of commute travel mode choice.

The Kendall Square area’s mobility context—supported by appropriate land development and urban design elements—has created the right environment to allow for increased levels of activity without the commensurate impacts of traffic congestion. As a result, the area's employees are choosing sustainable modes over driving alone for their commutes.

Explore the other chapters for a look at the transportation infrastructure and services that support the developing land use in and around the KSURP MXD and Kendall Square area. These additional StoryMaps allow you to delve into the data that documents the transportation activity levels for the area.