Morrissey Boulevard Redesign

stick n move said:





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I'm glad they didn't go with Figure 4-9, as that would be inappropriate for a corridor with such low bus service demand. I'm hoping, but not optimistic, that the "protected bike lane" is actually protected, by at least bollards.

I hope we can see robust bus infrastructure on the stretch of Columbia Rd where there is actual demand for such infrastructure, between Blue Hill Ave and JFK/UMass, but I'm not holding my breath.
 

Panel okays report on Morrissey rehab; city promises own planning approach​


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“The Morrissey Commission planning group, working under a legislative mandate, approved its final report in an online meeting last Thursday (June 26) after ducking a curveball that city officials tossed into the process by committing to lead a much-requested comprehensive planning process alongside the road project.

Much of the curb-to-curb roadway designs, which had been vetted and discussed in meetings throughout 2024, have been embraced by neighbors and commission members.

They encompasses changes to key points from Preble Circle in South Boston to Neponset Circle – with most showing improvement to traffic congestion on computer models and including much better access points for pedestrians trying to get to the waterfront from the neighborhoods.
New configurations and new roadways are suggested for the area by Star Market, Bianculli Circle at the UMass-Boston intersection, and a major alteration to traffic at Freeport Street and Victory Road will include new intersections and no direct left turns off Freeport.

One sticking point was a flood mitigation wall or berm along Morrissey Boulevard between Bianculli and Freeport. Neighbors and planners clashed over designs and strategies during most of the process, and that part of the plan was set for further review during the design process……..”


www.dotnews.com

Panel okays report on Morrissey rehab; city promises own planning approach - Dorchester Reporter

The Morrissey Commission planning group, working under a legislative mandate, approved its final report in an online meeting last Thursday (June 26) after ducking a curveball that city officials tossed into the process by committing to lead a much-requested comprehensive planning process...
www.dotnews.com www.dotnews.com
 
No matter how much they pretty it up, it still looks like an overly wide highway. A 10' wide landscaped median down the middle would break up the sea of asphalt and provide a refuge in the middle for pedestrians and.bikes crossing the highway.
 
Charlie_mta said:
No matter how much they pretty it up, it still looks like an overly wide highway. A 10' wide landscaped median down the middle would break up the sea of asphalt and provide a refuge in the middle for pedestrians and.bikes crossing the highway.
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I'm not sure about that. In my opinion either the median needs to be wide enough that people actually want to be there (I would argue 10' is not nearly wide enough for that), or you keep the median small and use it to add some tree cover.
 
TheRatmeister said:
I'm not sure about that. In my opinion either the median needs to be wide enough that people actually want to be there (I would argue 10' is not nearly wide enough for that), or you keep the median small and use it to add some tree cover.
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Yes, I think a 25' wide median that would include the green two-way bike path plus trees and landscaping would be great, something like a modified version of Comm Ave in the back Bay..
 
Whoever designed Figure 4-3 must be aware of children in a mere theoretical sense, or has never visited Neponset Circle at all.
A heavily peopled bike trail adjacent to a rotary that often hurls Hyundais like a jai lai cesta! The designer must be publicly pro-life but covertly pro-death, opting to passively terminate these notional children in bike trailers in the 12th trimester and beyond. Dogs? The elderly in wheelchairs? Shades of Death Race 2000.

Oops! Your virtue signaling fell in my reality, and it smells like rotten scallops from a 1963 MDC/ MassDOT clambake.
 
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BeyondRevenue said:
Whoever designed Figure 4-3 must be aware of children in a mere theoretical sense, or has never visited Neponset Circle at all.
A heavily peopled bike trail adjacent to a rotary that often hurls Hyundais like a jai lai cesta! The designer must be publicly pro-life but covertly pro-death, opting to passively terminate these notional children in bike trailers in the 12th trimester and beyond. Dogs? The elderly in wheelchairs? Shades of Death Race 2000.

Oops! Your virtue signaling fell in my reality, and it smells like rotten scallops from a 1963 MDC/ MassDOT clambake.
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Generally all the renders and layouts look like an expressway.
 
"Dorchester resident John Wixted argued that Morrissey Boulevard functions largely as a commuter funnel rather than a local road, citing estimates that 75 to 85 percent of traffic consists of through traffic heading to Interstate 93.

“Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars raising a road that keeps flooding, why not move that commuter traffic onto I-93 where it belongs?” Wixted said".

www.dotnews.com

Two options floated to replace key Morrissey drawbridge - Dorchester Reporter

State transportation officials on Tuesday laid out early design options for replacing the nearly century-old Beades Bridge on Morrissey Boulevard, drawing pointed questions from residents about cost, climate resilience, traffic disruption, environmental contamination and whether the bridge...
www.dotnews.com www.dotnews.com
 
Scott said:
"Dorchester resident John Wixted argued that Morrissey Boulevard functions largely as a commuter funnel rather than a local road, citing estimates that 75 to 85 percent of traffic consists of through traffic heading to Interstate 93.

“Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars raising a road that keeps flooding, why not move that commuter traffic onto I-93 where it belongs?” Wixted said".

www.dotnews.com

Two options floated to replace key Morrissey drawbridge - Dorchester Reporter

State transportation officials on Tuesday laid out early design options for replacing the nearly century-old Beades Bridge on Morrissey Boulevard, drawing pointed questions from residents about cost, climate resilience, traffic disruption, environmental contamination and whether the bridge...
www.dotnews.com www.dotnews.com
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"No bridge! We want a beach now!" oh boy.....
 
Arch101 said:
"No bridge! We want a beach now!" oh boy.....
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I agree that Morrisey Blvd has basically been just a commuter highway for at least the last 80 years. I'd rather see it downsized to a local road, and the resultant shortfall in commuter capacity mitigated by the double-tracking of the commuter rail through Dorchester and Quincy.
 
So much of Morrissey north of Freeport is simply people cutting through Dorchester and Southie to bypass 93. Like usual, it makes everything worse for the people who don't do that since it ties up Kosciuszko Circle and then just injects traffic at later, more choked points. Should be easy to merge all of Morrissey into 93 at Freeport, with the north end beyond the bridge slimmed down extensively to just be local access. Hell, then you could nuke the limited access stretch between the Circle and UMass which would improve things further.
 
Unfortunately, the time to eliminate Morrissey as a commuter route was 25 years ago, before the Seaport was built out. Now, it's become a main line for South Shore people who work in the Seaport. Even on weekends, people going to the Seaport use Morrissey rather than 93. I shudder to think about what happens if you FORCE all those Seaport workers onto 93.
 
Now I think this bridge will probably be replaced but they have put it off for too long and the people at the meeting are correct to point out that it is a 2 mile stretch of road that has multiple development projects going on and there is no single entity in charge of all of them. The Kosciuszko Circle project is independent to the Morrissey project, that doesn't include this bridge which must be coordinated with the plans for the expansion of the Neponset River Greenway and the Harborwalk and the Coastal Resilience Solutions plan for Dorchester. No one entity is ultimately in charge and that worries people.
 
Arenacale said:
So much of Morrissey north of Freeport is simply people cutting through Dorchester and Southie to bypass 93. Like usual, it makes everything worse for the people who don't do that since it ties up Kosciuszko Circle and then just injects traffic at later, more choked points. Should be easy to merge all of Morrissey into 93 at Freeport, with the north end beyond the bridge slimmed down extensively to just be local access. Hell, then you could nuke the limited access stretch between the Circle and UMass which would improve things further.
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I've always thought that if they removed the direct NB off ramp from 93, that would encourage some drivers with non-local destinations to stay on the highway, at least until the K-Circle/Columbia Rd exit. If they really want to take Morrissey to get to UMASS or BC High, etc. they could get off at the Freeport St exit just prior. Sometimes that couple mins of added time is enough to nudge people to stay course. To the point someone made about the project coordination, a suggestion like mine doesn't work (especially politically) if you can't explain how you would 'fix' K-Circle to accommodate more traffic or account for other changes in the area in general.
 
Arch101 said:
Unfortunately, the time to eliminate Morrissey as a commuter route was 25 years ago, before the Seaport was built out. Now, it's become a main line for South Shore people who work in the Seaport. Even on weekends, people going to the Seaport use Morrissey rather than 93. I shudder to think about what happens if you FORCE all those Seaport workers onto 93.
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You shudder to think what would happen if suburbanites were forced to use 93 or the MBTA in order to remove a car sewer that cuts off an urban neighborhood from the waterfront? That's what you shudder about?
 
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