Massachusetts Turnpike/I-90 (Current Projects, Conceptual Improvements, & Long Term)

There are Applegreens on I-90 in upstate NY that have Chick-Fil-A and Panera. I once waited more than an hour on a weekday evening at that Panera. That place on a Sunday would not be fun.
 
malabari said:
There are Applegreens on I-90 in upstate NY that have Chick-Fil-A and Panera. I once waited more than an hour on a weekday evening at that Panera. That place on a Sunday would not be fun.
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Those Paneras are brutal even during the week midday. Not helped by the every-other-one reconstruction of each rest stop on 90 in NY. Hopefully when they all get finished it lessens the crowding at all of them.
 
www.wellesleyma.gov

I-90/I-95 Overnight Ramp Closures

Ramps on I-90/I-95 in Newton and Weston will be closed overnight from February 7 through February 12. The closures are due to MassDOT work on the Newton/Weston bridge rehabilitation project.
www.wellesleyma.gov www.wellesleyma.gov
 
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www.communityadvocate.com

Demolition of Mass. Pike bridge begins early May

The demolition of the Fruit Street bridge in Hopkinton as part of the I-495 and Mass. Pike Interchange Improvements Project.
www.communityadvocate.com www.communityadvocate.com
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has announced that starting on Monday, May 8, crews will begin overnight demolition of the Fruit Street bridge in Hopkinton as part of the I-495/I-90 Interchange Improvements Project.

Demolition is planned to occur on Monday through Friday between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. for three weeks.
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www.bostonglobe.com

MassDOT taps Irish firm Applegreen to redevelop 18 highway service plazas - The Boston Globe

The 35-year contract, which goes to the full board for approval next Wednesday, would bring about the biggest changes for the Mass. Pike plazas since the highway was built in the 1950s.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Applegreen would completely replace buildings at nine of the 18 service plazas and make significant retrofits to the others. In total, Applegreen has pledged to make $750 million in capital improvements over the life of the lease. The company also would share a portion of the revenue it earns at these plazas with the state, totaling at least $28.4 million a year on average over the contract term — or nearly $1 billion that would go to the state over time.
[...]
The lease, which has a 10-year extension option, would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, for 14 of the 18 service areas: the 11 on the turnpike, plus rest areas in Lexington, Newton, and Plymouth; Applegreen is slated to replace McDonald’s as the food concessionaire, and Gulf for the fuel along the turnpike. The contract for the other four plazas — currently operated by Waltham-based petroleum supplier Global Partners in Bridgewater, Barnstable, and Beverly — would switch over on June 30, 2027.
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themissinglink said:
www.bostonglobe.com

MassDOT taps Irish firm Applegreen to redevelop 18 highway service plazas - The Boston Globe

The 35-year contract, which goes to the full board for approval next Wednesday, would bring about the biggest changes for the Mass. Pike plazas since the highway was built in the 1950s.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
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Hopefully they have a better follow-through with MassDOT over NY State. They tried to have NY bail them out about $250 million shortly after demolishing half the rest stops on the Thru Way and promising to not cost taxpayers a dime - it looked really shady, but I don't think they ended up getting the money. The rest stops are also optimized for keeping operation costs low, not functioning as efficient stops - bathroom layouts are small and awkward, and the convenience and restaurant spaces are quite cramped. They also decided to go with Chic-fil-A as the major tenant at most of these, leaving most of the thruway without many options on Sundays. Noted upthread, MA got ahead of that and required 7-day operations for their vendors.
 
ceo said:
Could be worse. First time I went out the Thruway, dear gods almost 40 years ago, the service area food service was operated by the state, not contracted out, and the food was about what you'd expect from a state highway department. =:-O
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Probably on a par with the food at a State prison.
 
www.bostonglobe.com

Fuel supplier Global Partners fumes after getting bypassed by MassDOT for Applegreen in service-plaza bid - The Boston Globe

The Waltham company says state highway officials are missing an opportunity to invest in a business with “deep Massachusetts roots.”
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Of the six bidders for the state’s big service-plaza redevelopment lease, only two are based in Massachusetts.
And now one of those local bidders, Waltham-based petroleum supplier Global Partners, is fuming because it was passed over in favor of Applegreen, an Irish company backed by private equity giant Blackstone, for the hefty 35-year contract to redo the state’s 18 highway service plazas.
[...]
Max Slifka, Global’s senior vice president of real estate, said in a statement that Global would pay roughly 50 percent more in rent than Applegreen would in its bid. He added that that state highway officials are missing an opportunity to invest in a business with “deep Massachusetts roots” rather than handing off this important infrastructure “to outsiders with no proven stake in our state.”
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Max Slifka, Global’s senior vice president of real estate, said in a statement that Global would pay roughly 50 percent more in rent than Applegreen would in its bid. He added that that state highway officials are missing an opportunity to invest in a business with “deep Massachusetts roots” rather than handing off this important infrastructure “to outsiders with no proven stake in our state.”
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It's hard to evaluate this without seeing the competing bid documents, but I suspect there was more to it than who paid the most rent.
 
There's ~100 people protesting outside the state transportation building right now related to this.

EDIT: The demonstration lasted about 30 minutes. Not clear where everyone went.

EDIT2: They came inside! They're crowded in the atrium while there is a hearing related to the bid going on in the main boardroom.
 
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