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If the line is extended to Hyde Square as proposed, then it's not a problem; at worst you have to relocate a driveway to make room for a curb bulb-out that serves as the platform. If not extended, the likely solution is to land-swap with the VA - some of their employee parking lot for the...

The New Haven-Springfield Line has always had wider stop spacing: in its current form the line only has 7 intermediate stations in 62 miles. Even if all proposed stations are built (Enfield, West Hartford, Newington Junction, North Haven, Hamden), it'll be 12 for an average station spacing of...

I believe Brookline Hills is now sufficient length - the platforms go a fair distance under the BHS building. I estimate about 240 feet measuring on Google Maps.

As far as bang-for-your buck bikeways go, I think a connector between the Northern Strand Trail and Northgate would be very valuable. Right now, the only legal place to cross the Pines River on bike or foot between Lynn Street and Route 1 are the adjacent Washington Avenue and Squires Road...

Fascinating find! Prompted me to do some research. Looks like that was formerly Wexford Street, which turned south as Hillside Street and dead-ended at the tracks. This 1925 atlas shows it well: https://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/7713/Plate+014/Boston+1925+Brighton/Massachusetts/ There...

I've been researching the history of Wonderland station the last few days, and I swear that some of the garage documents specifically said it was intended to also serve Revere Beach parking. I'll see if I can dig up which ones.

https://media.amtrak.com/2023/08/providence-bus-service/ Three daily Worcester-Providence-New Bedford round trips on Amtrak Thruway, operated by DATTCO. It's an interesting concept - hopefully it gets enough ridership to be worthwhile. You cannot book trips just on the bus, which is...

I swear there's something about the 90s-to-early-2000s overpass designs that just did not age well. South Attleboro (1990), Canton Junction (2000), and the Worcester Line infills (2000 and 2002) are all falling apart - Canton Junction needed major work in 2015. Meanwhile, the Old Colony stations...

Depressing realization: with South Coast Rail still scheduled for a late 2023 opening, 2024 is set to be the first full year in the MBTA era where there are no new rail stations under active construction.

Framingham to Worcester is still a freight clearance route. Adding full-high platforms will require adding either a gauntlet track or a third track, which is a bigger task than this fix-it work. It is doable - there's enough space between the footbridge towers - but it's probably something you...

And yet another commuter rail station has to be closed for reconstruction. Ashland closes on August 26, reopens "Fall 2023". https://www.mbta.com/news/2023-07-31/ashland-station-receive-25-million-repairs-and-improvements At least this work is fully funded and relatively short.

I've been wondering that myself. It's such a constrained space for a busway. Comparable terminals like Lechmere generally have dedicated bays for each route, plus passing lanes. Right now, Kenmore handles about 24 buses per hour at the AM peak: 3 on the 8, 3 on the 19, 7.5 on the 57, a bit...

I-5 between Tracy and Bakersfield is pretty much entirely a through route; in 200 miles, there's only two municipalities over 10,000 (Los Banos at 45k and Patterson at 20k). Any traffic to/from north of Tracy or south of Bakersfield can use SR 99 to reach Fresno. While it looks like a big gap on...

Interesting idea, but it's trying to do too much with one line. Thoughts: Even if 100% of the route is in a dedicated median, that's 7 miles of surface running. That's a lot of traffic signals; TSP can't cut pedestrian countdowns short, so even in the best case scenario the line is going to...

The line from the slide is "On the Old Colony Lines, the CIP includes design funding for double-tracking to deliver hourly service on the branches and start planning for the megaproject to double track between Boston and Quincy Center" I read this as being two separate things: Adding double...

Fitchburg is a limiter on frequency on the line, and the crossover moves are a frequent cause of delays. Same with the Haverhill Line stations. Second platforms are planned at Andover and Ballardvale for those exact reasons, and Lawrence actually had a (non-accessible) second platform added for...

What in the midcentury brutalism...

Thanks for posting those. There will only be a single new island platform (serving tracks 11 and 12); it will be within the profile of the existing opening of the wall visible in that aerial, so not actually reducing developable space by much. The first 100 feet or so of the platform actually...

For the second trip, you want essentially the reverse schedule for a Boston supercommuter train: NHV 6:30 am HFD 7:15 am SPG 7:45 am WOR 9:00 am BOS 10:00 am BOS 4:00 pm WOR 5:00 pm SPG 6:15 pm HFD 6:45 pm NHV 7:30 pm The northbound wouldn't connect to any existing Amtrak train, though I don't...

The LSL is timetabled for about 2:30 BOS to SPG. The Inland Regionals in the early 2000s were the same. (They included a lot of padding - it was approximately 1:00 BOS-WOR and 1:30 WOR-SPG westbound, and 1:00 SPG to WOR and 1:30 WOR to BOS eastbound. The Bay State in the early 1970s was a zippy...