A 90-acre project, Bird Island Flats (BIF), was an expansion of Boston's Logan International Airport completed through the work of contractors such as Barletta Engineering. The project was on the site of a former island of considerable size. In early colonial times, the island was one on which the municipal government undertook executions of pirates and displayed the bones of criminals as a warning to law-abiding citizens. Bird Island still existed as a grassy islet until the 1790s, after which "heavy materials," namely rock and soil, were removed to such an extent that the island ceased to exist.

At this time, the island's name was changed to Bird Island Flats. In the 1930s, the Massachusetts state government approved dredging surrounding channels and filling in the former wetland. In 1981, Massport funded the $125 million Bird Island Flats project. One issue was severe space constraints for an expanding Logan airport, bounded by active harbor channels and historic East Boston neighborhoods such as Jeffrey's Point.

The project area, situated in the southwest part of the airport, was envisioned as one that would combine dual taxiways and potentially a new runway. When completed, the project encompassed only a single taxiway, along with limited office development encompassing a large Hyatt hotel, office buildings (including one for MassPort's staff), and air cargo buildings. In addition, a linear park offering residents a "walk to the sea" was completed as part of the project.

The plan for Bird Island Flats' development required comprehensive environmental impact assessments. This was made relatively easy because no more extended wetlands existed in this recently created, partly paved landfill. The one major issue was that the retaining wall was technically considered a coastal bank as it extended under the ocean's surface.

For this reason, airport development was kept away from that retaining wall boundary, and no mixed-use alternatives, such as ferry or marina development, were considered. As for parks, recreation areas, or residences, there was no loss at all. Indeed, the project was described as accomplishing open-space improvements that "should slightly improve the quality of life in East Boston."

MassPort worked closely with local citizens' groups to ensure minimal Environmental Impact Report issues and gained and implemented their input at every project conceptualization stage. This helped define how buildings would serve as noise mitigation barriers and ensured that concerns about such topics as vibrations related to cargo handling were addressed.

This involved strategically placing buildings to provide noise and view buffers. The substantial 100-foot Hyatt hotel, with a rooftop restaurant, not only acted as a noise buffer but also ensured that no further runways would be built on BIF for the foreseeable future. This eased neighborhood noise and air traffic concerns.

Another area of concern, local transportation, was also resolved, with a comprehensive assessment finding potential airport parking facility congestion issues to be negligible. While the shift of the Ted Williams Tunnel portal to the area of the project did generate local road and highway access issues, Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel project addressed them. The Bird Island Flats accomplished exactly what it set out to do: add capacity to a busy International airport with almost no negative environmental or social impact.