THANKS TO THE Biden-Harris infrastructure program, the federal government continues to award billions of dollars across the country to modernize our nation’s outmoded transportation infrastructure. And thanks to the ambition of the Healey-Driscoll administration, the Commonwealth has already secured federal funding to advance worthy infrastructure projects like the West-East Rail program and the Sagamore Bridge reconstruction.

There is, however, a single infrastructure project still on the table that is paramount to sustainable transportation, improved air quality, and economic growth in the region: that opportunity is in Allston.

The I-90 Allston Multimodal Project could be described as a MassDOT highway project—yet it is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reconnect the Allston community and to deliver transformational transportation options, unprecedented development opportunities, and critical environmental benefits for Boston, Worcester, and beyond.

The project involves tearing down an elevated section of the Mass Pike and putting the roadway at ground level, establishing a living shoreline to beautify and restore the riverbank, and creating a new boardwalk that separates and enhances the safety of pedestrians and cyclists and provides sweeping views of the Charles River. This realignment of the roadway will open up more than 40 acres of development opportunity at Beacon Park Yard and, perhaps, most impactfully, establish a multimodal transit hub and new commuter rail stop at West Station.

While the capital work will take place in the city of Boston, the end result will benefit the entire region. A Better City helped produce an economic benefits study that forecasts the development at Beacon Park Yard enabled by the project would produce $6.4 billion in annual GDP throughout our economy, with over 36,000 jobs, and $151 million a year in state income, sales, and hotel taxes, and $87 million a year in Boston property taxes.

This project is an unparalleled opportunity to reimagine the western gateway to Boston. It would set a national standard in how to use once-in-a-generation federal funding to overhaul last century’s car-centric transportation system. And it would effectively address the crippling traffic congestion, harmful emissions, and toxic runoff that jeopardize our statewide climate and environmental goals.

In 1965, when Massachusetts built the Allston section of the Mass Pike, the eight-lane elevated highway divided a vibrant working-class community. This section of the turnpike shut down passenger rail stations, split Allston, and brought negative impacts on the riverfront habitat. Fortunately, there is now a real opportunity to secure federal funding to right some of the wrongs of the past and to make this aspiration a reality.

In terms of next steps, the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, Greater Boston and Worcester business community, and Allston community stakeholders have united in support of this project and in support of an application for up to $500 million in federal funding through the US Department of Transportation Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Program. An impressive array of public officials and community leaders recently released a video to explain the project scope, benefits, and urgency, and a decision on that federal funding application is expected in the coming weeks.

There is vision, there is alignment, there is momentum—and the time is now.

Kate Dineen is president & CEO of A Better City. Bradley Campbell is the president of the Conservation Law Foundation.