At least semi-permenant islands are needed for any new median bus stops for accessibility, and any new bus stop islands will mean reconfiguring all the other traffic lanes. That's 75% of the work of the full solution, so better to just get the work done all at once.
The most succinct summary of our civilizational struggle I’ve seen
That post-war "dream big" also came with "tell the townies to put up or else". Which is why that post-war stuff didn't end up working out in the long term.
A couple other things I think might be important related to this, that have changed:
Nice, congrats. I like the green reconfig map a lot. I’d say a key idea that isnt mentioned as key ideas on that is the line to Harvard sq which would significantly alleviate downtown pressures; also, that the D-E connector + GL to Harvard Sq means there are light rail partial crosstown routes. Those seem “key” to me, since a lot of our collective GL visions are mere extensions, whereas the Harvard ext actually is more than that if you can go from Harvard to Kenmore and then transfer to get to Hyde Sq.
www.mbta.com
Silver Line Extension (SLX) Alternatives Analysis | Projects | MBTA
Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.
Yeah I’ve only just skimmed the Exec Summary, but I like what I see. That’s a lot of dedicated space for transit, and it sets up use for other circumferential services in the future.
It’s a shame they punted on the SL6 and alternatives beyond Sullivan. This seems like the bare minimum of the alternatives they were considering.
Yes, it's an extension. The completed project will result in an SL3 that runs from South Station to Sullivan Square via Seaport, East Boston, Chelsea, and Everett.
It sounds like their last public outreach of SL3x and SL6 seemed to indicate they are two separate projects, not either-or. This was evident in their assumption that for all SL6 alternatives (particularly those that do not go to Chelsea), Chelsea residents can still get to Kendall by transferring from SL3x to SL6. So I wouldn't take this as a sign that SL6 has been gutted.
They talk about moving the bike lanes onto private property for a stretch of 99 to make room for a bus lane. I'm skeptical about the real caliber of busway that this whole segment will be able to provide. 99 is not that wide, and there is a ton of future development here, and the plan has the buses in mixed traffic through the rotary. Painted bus lanes that weave in and out of traffic at the rotary and the bridge does not seem like a recipe for success, if the same choke points remain unaddressed. But I guess we'll see.Yes, it's an extension. The completed project will result in an SL3 that runs from South Station to Sullivan Square via Seaport, East Boston, Chelsea, and Everett.
But it's not clear to me what is meant by dedicated busway. It's a bit vague, but hopefully is at least a stronger segregation from traffic than what the side running lanes on Broadway provide.
mass.streetsblog.org
Hopefully we'll get real, effective transit signal priority this time! (Does that even exist anywhere else on the MBTA?)
The BNRD has 11-min headways for Frequent Bus Routes (FBRs) during middays, and 8-min during rush hours; it also lists SL3 with the same headways as any other FBR. However, the SLXAA report assumes SL3 has 10-min frequencies during peak. So it may also just be an approximation, or that the SLXAA team and the BNRD team were working independently.