Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Tufts is sending out surveys in anticipation of the Green Line coming to campus. I found some of the possible intersection redesigns to be interesting:

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Plaza with roundabout. As a former Tufts grad student (any other UEP-ers on here?) I can attest to that intersection being miserable to cross. No safe crossings where you need them to be and cars fly through with the current road geometry.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Yeah, I see the Double Roundabout working wonderfully... LOL
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Skeptical? Vermont had a good example, in Manchester Center (I think we talked about it on archboston.org. Can't imagine where else I'd have heard of it) that nicely accommodated both through tourist/ski peak and a walkable downtown

Ideally, the space would be redesigned to be shared space that knits the the hilltop/athletic-GLX/Ball-Powderhouse quandrants together.

Everyone here needs to see the story of the UK's Poynton's Double Roundabouts (note: in British "Pavement" = our "sidewalk")
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vzDDMzq7d0[/youtube]
 
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Arlington said:
Skeptical? Vermont had a good example, in Manchester Center (I think we talked about it on archboston.org. Can't imagine where else I'd have heard of it) that nicely accommodated both through tourist/ski peak and a walkable downtown

Everyone here needs to see the story of the UK's Poynton's Double Roundabouts:
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Thanks for sharing this. That's epic.
 
datadyne007 said:
Thanks for sharing this. That's epic.
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It so is. When you get to the part where they talk about making "gateways" to Poynton (starting at 3:31)and place-making further back from the junction, Just copy-paste the word TUFTS on the center-island signs. College Ave and Boston Ave are all too wide and encourage too much cut-through for what is really a destination (particularly when a T-station is added). Tufts would get its Tufts Square (not a bad T-station name either)

Yes, the car-centric Medfordians (my homies) will freak just like the locals in Poynton did. happily, Poynton documented its before & after, complete with all the "it'll never work" comments and then the mind-blowing improvements. Tuft should push as hard as they can for this.
 
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Magoun Square, Gilman Square, and areas around the Lowell T stop have all been floated as possible woonerf areas. I think it makes sense most at Gilman Square, where there's modest traffic that already moves at a crawl because of the layout and the long term plans have a dense pack of mixed use buildings right on the street. The College Ave stop is trickier because it doesn't have as much potential for commercial vibrancy. The campus turns its back on this intersection with a woody slope that ends in a large fence. On the T stop side are woods and ballfields. It will remain for decades a place to get through, not to. https://www.google.com/maps/@42.407...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sLfn4G_MA98f_WL-Rx-LSNg!2e0

Parallel would be the Boston College T stop. There's plenty of pedestrian activity at peak hours, but it's not exactly Harvard Square. Not enough to merit a woonerf. https://www.google.com/maps/@42.339...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sdodYOzi2ISKs-oVw1VZkug!2e0
 
kjdonovan said:
The College Ave stop is trickier because it doesn't have as much potential for commercial vibrancy. The campus turns its back on this intersection with a woody slope that ends in a large fence.
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But see upthread. "The Campus" wants to change which way it faces. Tufts is not only building an "interesting" mechanical building next to its garage (glass front lets you look at the machines), but they also say they've got the money for an air-rights building over the Lowell Line/GLX tracks.

That, and they've got oodles of pedestrians with relatively high spending power whom they can "call back" from Davis Square and get to shop local.

Tufts already owns some of the commercial buildings @ Winthrop, and could create more on the uphill side of Boston Ave between Winthrop St and their Garage (and stack school dorm/office on top). They know how much better a pedestrian oriented streetscape would be, and they've got the parcels, people, and money to do it (and should be encouraged).

And narrow Boston Ave by eliminating all that parking. Sheesh.

The Brown & Brew corner is still very cut off from the hilltop, but they're clearly starting to improve the streetscape along Boston Ave out/down to St Clements
 
MBTAddict said:
Plaza with roundabout. As a former Tufts grad student (any other UEP-ers on here?) I can attest to that intersection being miserable to cross. No safe crossings where you need them to be and cars fly through with the current road geometry.
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I agree that Boston Ave there serves no real function, and, of the options presented, closing it is the best option. At rush hour, plenty of westbound cars turn left onto Dearborn anyway in order to beat the backup on Boston and get in line on College instead.

The real, unheralded benefit of the rotary is that it eliminates both turn lanes and on-street "storage" (in double lanes) of people stopped at lights. Eliminating both lets you make the streets way narrower (or add clear bike lanes)

To ensure that cars slow enough to keep pedestrians safe, I'd like to see more done on the approaches to calm them, as in Poynton. It may even require Stop signs before entering the rotary (and island refuges for pedestrians) and not just Yields
 
Question for the people who know:

Would it make sense to move the West Medford commuter rail station to Rt.16 (once GLX also gets there) so that people coming in from north on CR can get onto the greenline for points in between here and North Station? Otherwise, CR riders will have to go all the way to north station and then jump on the greenline to double back. I'm sure there are buses but just curious if there are any plans for this.
 
^ There aren't any plans for it. I've heard more talk of an eventual GL extension from Mystic/Rte 16 to West Medford than moving the Commuter Rail stop.
 
Deetroyt said:
Question for the people who know:
Would it make sense to move the West Medford commuter rail station to Rt.16 (once GLX also gets there) so that people coming in from north on CR can get onto the greenline for points in between here and North Station? Otherwise, CR riders will have to go all the way to north station and then jump on the greenline to double back. I'm sure there are buses but just curious if there are any plans for this.
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For a time, of course, the plan was that the GLX would meet the CR at West Medford, but the residents of West Medford of 2005 - 2007 freaked and almost immediately it became clear that it'd get pushed back to (at least) Rt 16, or, indeed, Tufts/College Ave where it will now terminate.

You might say that the GLX got to 80% consensus in favor at College, would have been 50% at Rt 16 and only 35% at West Medford. A lot, though, has changed in 10 years, but a lot more has to change (give it another 10 of inflow of families from Arlington and Somerville)

The other issue was that in the absence of a pro-GLX consensus, the cost of a big new 2-track bridge across the Mystic (or potentially an all-new 4-track) was just way too much $.

The idea is to have a GLX-LowellCR connection *somewhere*, Right? but, so far the best they've been able to do is to float the Lowell Line for DMU conversion (giving W. Medford to Anderson/Woburn rapid-transit style headways), but STILL no GLX connection (it is clearly some kind of "Us" (Car&CR&Express Bus people) vs "Them" (Bus & GL people)

How needed is such a connection? (I like the idea, but is it needed) One place for it is to put a new CR stop at Tufts (by their ball fields) That'd probably get you your connection by 2020 and for less $, rather than wait for GLX to Rt 16.

I think it would make sense to move the West Medford stop to the south side of Rt 60 (it is currently northside) and then connect it by a pedestrian bridge back over the Mystic to the GLX@MVP station. Frankly, when it comes time to build the GLX@MVP, that would be the time to push for a pedestrian bridge.
 
Incidentally, here are notes from the MGNA Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance from the Feb 24th progress meeting:
College Avenue Station – The 90% design plans will not be submitted with the other three stations on March 6. The project team is continuing to meet weekly with Tufts University about its desire to construct a building behind and partially on top of the station, which it informed the MBTA of last August. The MBTA and Tufts have signed a memorandum of understanding that “commits to a process of working together, with the city, with the neighborhood,” with regard to the proposed Tufts building. The MOA also states that the Tufts building must not delay the scheduled opening of the station or increase its budget. “That station will open on time no matter what Tufts decides to do,” Arpino-Shaffer said.

...Tufts intend to have a joint public meeting with the city and neighbors with a presentation on the revised station design once it has become more definitive.
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The other surprise (to me) from that meeting was that as soon as now (Spring 2015) they'll be doing retaining wall work at College Ave and in Fall 2015 say that they'll begin work between Gliman Sq and College Ave (probably "non-station" stuff like widening the ROW to 4 track with retaining walls, but still good to see)

http://greenlineextension.eot.state.ma.us/documents/wrkGroup/febMtg2015/presentation022315.pdf
 
They're widening the bridges for Ball and Gilman presently. Retaining wall work must be the next step after the bridgework is done.
 
Arlington said:
The idea is to have a GLX-LowellCR connection *somewhere*, Right? but, so far the best they've been able to do is to float the Lowell Line for DMU conversion (giving W. Medford to Anderson/Woburn rapid-transit style headways), but STILL no GLX connection (it is clearly some kind of "Us" (Car&CR&Express Bus people) vs "Them" (Bus & GL people)
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In the short-to-mid-term, I'd like to see a CR stop at Gilman Square if possible. It would be Somerville's one and only CR stop! Perfect for reverse commuters who work in the Merrimack Valley, or for CR-GLX transfers.
 
You also need room for the station... Gilman Sq? Four tracks, two platforms, and a bike path, in a below-grade trench which was historically only four tracks?
 
^Agreed: Gilman doesn't have the space. Tufts does, MVP embankment doesn't. West Medford does (either wide or end to end)
 
Moving the West Medford CR station to the south side of 60 and providing a pedestrian connection to the Mystic Valley Parkway GL station makes a ton of sense. I've always thought the lack of a CR connection was one of the biggest missed opportunities of the GLX, and that station is in dire need of an upgrade.
 
When GLX goes to cross the Mystic and/or when the commuter rail bridge over the Mystic has to be replaced: can we start an upward grade from there, eliminate the Canal St grade crossing entirely (maybe offer a pedestrian tunnel through the embankment that is created), and then go *over* Rt 60? Seriously. C'mon.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
When GLX goes to cross the Mystic and/or when the commuter rail bridge over the Mystic has to be replaced: can we start an upward grade from there, eliminate the Canal St grade crossing entirely (maybe offer a pedestrian tunnel through the embankment that is created), and then go *over* Rt 60? Seriously. C'mon.
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F-line has said he thinks there is enough running room to bury it (as Fitchburg @ Waverly). Under or over, you are right that it should be addressed in GLX Phase 5 (GLX@MVP)
 
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