Sweetser Circle at over 500ft is still way larger than a modern roundabout would be, and the splitter islands are also way too big. It's an old school rotary layout which maximizes the design speed- not a good model.
Right you are, Badusername!They definitely won’t if we add more visual barriers like overpasses and noise pollution with high speed traffic. It’s within the walk shed of a transit station. The Station Landing TOD shows that density is viable here if separation is removed. There is an insane amount of space dedicated to retail parking diagonal from Station Landing, the only separation being the intersection.
Maybe a pedestrian overpass would work, but those tend to be incredibly unpleasant. I just don’t see why increased auto capacity should be the priority anywhere that close to a rapid transit station.
If this project can stitch the area northwest of the intersection to Wellington station, the state gets an actual ROI instead of just more expensive auto infrastructure to maintain.
I like that you've totally reimagined the intersection, and especially that the light cycles could be vastly simplified.View attachment 20393
Made a very sloppy render in Illustrator of Wellington Circle overlaid with a Continuous Flow Intersection. A lot of land is opened up on the western side and crossing distances are shortened. There should also be room for bicycle infrastructure, either on road or with a series of paths outside of the roadway. The advantage of this design is that all movements can be accomplished with only two light cycles as opposing directions are able to turn left, straight, and right at the same time. A third light cycle could be added for a long pedestrian scramble phase as well.
Traffic using Middlesex Ave will have to turn onto Fellsway Northbound and do a u-turn further up the road which will then enable it to go west, south, or east. Or it can turn left onto 9th st and then enter the Parkway to head directly west. Alternatively traffic on Middlesex Ave could turn right onto Riverside Ave and then left onto the Fellsway which will enable traffic to travel in all directions.
I like that you've totally reimagined the intersection, and especially that the light cycles could be vastly simplified.
I'm still seeing a LOT of pedestrian issues, and a really dangerous intersection for biking. How do these intersections fare when there is lots of pedestrian traffic, as this space nominally should be as a TOD hub?
While I like it, it just feels like this is better suited for the RT 9 mess than rt 16.
I would love to get some usage data on that Colorado intersection.I'm not sure about how they fare when built next to a transit station. My render also isn't as good as it could have been. Looking at it again there doesn't need to be any crosswalks cutting across the displaced left turn roads, the sidewalk can just follow along the outside. Also, all of the roads in general could be only a few feet apart with just some curbing/concrete between the roads, reducing the number of crossings and distances overall, as well as the size of the intersection itself.
Here is an example of a two-legged version of this intersection in Colorado Springs that also has bicycle accommodations. Since 3/5 of the roads going into Wellington Circle now have some form of bike lanes and the western approach of Mystic Valley has lots of mixed use paths running alongside it in the Mystic River Reservation, I think it would make sense to have both on and off road accommodation here. Also for Wellington I would get rid of the channelized right turns to make pedestrian access safer and easier and slow vehicle traffic down. Most of these intersections feature slip lanes but there's no need for them to exist in this case.
The example in Norwood works well for a 100% car only situation. But Wellington needs to work for all types of road users, including not only cars but also pedestrians and bike riders.I'm trying hard to keep up with all the great suggestions, so I apologize if this has already been floated. Regarding @Charlie_mta suggestion to change the overpass scheme to an underpass for Rt.16, would it make sense to borrow from Sweetser Circle and simplify the approaches, similar to this example on Rt.1 in Norwood? I find this config works extremely well, although I'm sure the volumes are much higher at Wellington.
View attachment 20381
So, what you’re saying is that the Cantons and Westwoods will put up a fight for a little bit before reality sets in?Here’s the official state website to explain the Housing Choice Act implementation: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/multi-family-zoning-requirement-for-mbta-communities
And here is the minimum number of housing units that must be zoned by MBTA community: https://www.mass.gov/doc/mbta-communities-cohort-designations-and-capacity-calculations/download
There is no doubt in my mind once the affected cities and towns wrap their head around what this means relative to prior practice (i.e BANANA acronym) and the mandated increase from the current housing unit count, there’s going to be incredible outrage over the law’s unit count and density requirements. This will be a long overdue shock to the status quo but I fear the pushback once realized may soften (reduce) the counts and density from the initial proposal. I foresee some communities (looking at you Lynnfield) might just decide to opt out and forego the state grant money vs zoning what is required under the law. Hopefully these programs the state will withhold from non-compliant communities will be enough to force them to comply with the law and upzone accordingly.
Either way, all these communities proximate to MBTA services should be contributing to the use and cost of them by providing for adequate housing unit count and density and it’s about time the state stepped in to force that.
Here’s the official state website to explain the Housing Choice Act implementation: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/multi-family-zoning-requirement-for-mbta-communities
And here is the minimum number of housing units that must be zoned by MBTA community: https://www.mass.gov/doc/mbta-communities-cohort-designations-and-capacity-calculations/download
There is no doubt in my mind once the affected cities and towns wrap their head around what this means relative to prior practice (i.e BANANA acronym) and the mandated increase from the current housing unit count, there’s going to be incredible outrage over the law’s unit count and density requirements. This will be a long overdue shock to the status quo but I fear the pushback once realized may soften (reduce) the counts and density from the initial proposal. I foresee some communities (looking at you Lynnfield) might just decide to opt out and forego the state grant money vs zoning what is required under the law. Hopefully these programs the state will withhold from non-compliant communities will be enough to force them to comply with the law and upzone accordingly.
Either way, all these communities proximate to MBTA services should be contributing to the use and cost of them by providing for adequate housing unit count and density and it’s about time the state stepped in to force that.
Don’t get me excited with your sensible ideas.What they need to do in this situation is make it so the commuter rail no longer stops at your towns station if your town refuses. Dont wanna play, thats fine, the t will just blow right by and stop somewhere that does.
This video is pure '90s glory:
Honestly the area inside a highway ramp with direct freight sidings and close access to a deepwater pier is pretty much the socially-optimal location for an urban concrete mixing facility.
archBoston is a hoot, though.
No. No. I can't. I won't ask.Ah I did work on that site a couple years ago