Cambridge Crossing (NorthPoint) | East Cambridge/Charlestown | Cambridge/Boston

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You can't convince me this isn't an Unreal Engine 5 render or something.
 
The packet also talks about the underground drainage being arranged to support foundations for a small retail building. This is an ephemeral park.
 
Is there a reason to cut First Street through the triangle like that? The area of that new little segment for First Street looks almost same size as the park.
 
ritchiew said:
Is there a reason to cut First Street through the triangle like that? The area of that new little segment for First Street looks almost same size as the park.
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It simplifies the traffic pattern. I think the plans also involve making Cambridge one way between First and O’Brien.
 
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bigpicture7 said:
Hmmm, designed for those smoking a little something while listening to synthetic bird noises and gazing up at the viaduct??
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I had wondered at first if someone had it in their will to spend eternity on a traffic island...
 
ritchiew said:
Is there a reason to cut First Street through the triangle like that? The area of that new little segment for First Street looks almost same size as the park.
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Just my opinion, but I think the extending of First Street to O'Brien Hwy is to directly tie the Cambridge Crossing development into the Kendall Sq area via First Street and Binney St.

What I would do is keep the First Street extension but eliminate the short piece of Cambridge Street between First Street and O'Brien Hwy. A short driveway from the Two Canal Park building to First Street would still be needed. The layout would be like this:

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Charlie_mta said:
What I would do is keep the First Street extension but eliminate the short piece of Cambridge Street between First Street and O'Brien Hwy. A short driveway from the Two Canal Park building to First Street would still be needed. The layout would be like this:
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Yes! I like that. It also gets rid of that mess of traffic islands out by the tip of the triangle where it's not always clear who will be coming from which direction. The only downside is the politics. This would mean taking away part of an existing street, which people get angry about. Extending the park over the proposed First Street segment could be easier (politically) because it's maintaining a status quo for drivers.

Charlie_mta said:
Just my opinion, but I think the extending of First Street to O'Brien Hwy is to directly tie the Cambridge Crossing development into the Kendall Sq area via First Street and Binney St.
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I don't really get this. CX is already tied to Kendall Sq. There's an EZBus that goes from CX Common to Kendall. It's also only a ~15 minute walk. That walk/bike would even marginally nicer with a bit more park or pedestrian plaza. This bit of First Street extension only seems to help people who want to drive their own car between CX and Kendall. I hope those numbers are small, and they don't seem like the kinds of commutes we want to encourage.

The main thing that makes CX feel cut off from the rest of the Cambridge is the O'Brien Hwy.
 
ritchiew said:
Yes! I like that. It also gets rid of that mess of traffic islands out by the tip of the triangle where it's not always clear who will be coming from which direction. The only downside is the politics. This would mean taking away part of an existing street, which people get angry about. Extending the park over the proposed First Street segment could be easier (politically) because it's maintaining a status quo for drivers.

I don't really get this. CX is already tied to Kendall Sq. There's an EZBus that goes from CX Common to Kendall. It's also only a ~15 minute walk. That walk/bike would even marginally nicer with a bit more park or pedestrian plaza. This bit of First Street extension only seems to help people who want to drive their own car between CX and Kendall. I hope those numbers are small, and they don't seem like the kinds of commutes we want to encourage.

The main thing that makes CX feel cut off from the rest of the Cambridge is the O'Brien Hwy.
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Politically, I don't think it would be that difficult to get rid of that short piece of Cambridge St. After all, Main Street at Mass Ave was eliminated, and that was a major street that had been there about 150 years. As for the extension of First Street directly into Cambridge Crossing, it appears to me that it provides a strong visual/psychological link (as well as a traffic link) from Cambridge Crossing to the very active First Street corridor and Kendall Square. Without the First Street extension, Cambridge Crossing would seem more isolated from the rest of Cambridge.
 
An aside, but I think Main Street desperately needs a new renaming. Such a podunk name for a street that serves the most technologically advanced firms in the world.
 
Charlie_mta said:
After all, Main Street at Mass Ave was eliminated,
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Yeah, that's exactly the intersection I was thinking of with my little complaint. There are plenty of places like that where they've blocked car traffic on one side of a little square to make it more usable for pedestrians. The old lechmere station is the only place I've noticed recently where they're doing the opposite and actually putting in more road to break up a potential pedestrian space.

Is there a term for that, BTW? Where they reconnect a square or park to an adjacent block? So we can start advocating for it at Lechmere.
 
AndreyD said:
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I was recently in Singapore and staying near the Expo MRT station. The Expo station would have been a good model for Lechmere. It's basically the EXACT SAME elevated structure as Lechmere, but they did a beautiful canopy to make it look more interesting. I've said it before, but Lechmere was the ONE station on the extension that should have been architecturally iconic.


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