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    Regional Rail (RUR) & North-South Rail Link (NSRL)

    I can't give you exact numbers, but the Southbound is much shallower there than the Northbound tunnel. The deepest part of NB is about 120 feet underground at Summer Street, where the highway goes under the Red Line (which is under the Silver Line). It then starts rising slowly to go over the...
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    "Dirty Old Boston"

    I don't really know where to stick this, but here are two pieces of public art that include transit that no longer exists. It's just weird it happened twice
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    If You Were God/Goddess | Transit & Infrastructure Sandbox

    I'm not sure I follow. To be clear, this was all based on a god-mode proposal to repurpose the CAT tunnels for trains as much as possible. So the trains would be in the current tunnels, following whatever grade they are. I was saying that's maybe remotely possible between South Station and...
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    If You Were God/Goddess | Transit & Infrastructure Sandbox

    Yeah, that's roughly the problem section we're talking about: going from a high point as the highway goes over the Blue Line to a low point under the Callahan/Sumner ramps. That should be the steepest part of the CA/T between South Station and Haymarket, but I'm pretty sure it's still less than...
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    If You Were God/Goddess | Transit & Infrastructure Sandbox

    Yeah, it's been a while since I was reading about this, and I was trying to piece all this together from really incomplete snippets of data, but: Yes, it's close, but I am pretty sure it never goes above 3%. That's piecing together lots of partial diagrams, construction photos, and planning...
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    If You Were God/Goddess | Transit & Infrastructure Sandbox

    @BosMaineiac that all sounds about right, but a couple of things The north and south entrances to the tunnel are too steep. But I think everything in between (basically Summer Street to North Washington) is under 3%, which is what the FRA was allowing in other NSRL plans. If @Hooledeli 's plan...
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    If You Were God/Goddess | Transit & Infrastructure Sandbox

    That's pretty cool. I've also thought a lot about repurposing the tunnels for trains, for the same reasons you mention, and just that the Big Dig engineering is fascinating. I don't think it's at all feasible, but it's fun to consider. Did you give any thought of what the trains would do north...
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    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    It will be a bit sad to lose that last bit of street running. It's quaint. It looks neat. It feels very old time-y Boston, especially running along those row homes. But also, thank god, separate the tracks, speed up the trains, do it, do it now
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    General Boston Discussion

    😬 I've been avoiding responding, lest I jinx something, but.... how nervous are you now....? Bruins collapse aside, has anyone gone down to Canal Street for any Bruins or Celtics home games? I've missed them all so far, and it looks like I'll be missing Bruins game 7 this weekend. I've seen...
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    Multi-Family Zoning Requirements for MBTA Communities

    No, that doesn't really explain anything for me. What is the government overreach?
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    Multi-Family Zoning Requirements for MBTA Communities

    I've heard this sentiment before, but I don't understand it. Local governments have enacted mountains of regulations dictating exactly what people can and cannot do on their own land. Local governments set requirements for height, setbacks, number of garages, floor-area-ratio, minimum lot...
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    Multi-Family Zoning Requirements for MBTA Communities

    I see, thanks. Well, I mostly agree with @Smuttynose here. I think that's great that Scituate has been more proactive with the zoning reforms, and the state should be rewarding that. I don't think the reward should be letting the town do less of the good thing we want it to do. That frustrates...
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    Multi-Family Zoning Requirements for MBTA Communities

    I really can't figure this out. What hardships would this cause for Scituate?
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    Biking in Boston

    Yeah, it was pretty wild how little the anti-bike people had to say at the meetings I went to. It was usually just the vaguest of "concerns" without anything more. Residents and council members would occasionally mention "problems" caused by existing bike lanes, then never really say what those...
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    MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

    Absolutely. And that's another big reason I wouldn't want to be dismissive of noise complaints. We could tell residents to just deal with the noise. Or we could tell residents there are plans for electrification that would make the rail yard orders of magnitude quieter than it's been in its 140...
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    MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

    Agree 100%. I'll add, too, that even if the residents are mistaken, it's a good idea to keep incrementally making this infrastructure nicer for the people around it. (It's lower priority at the moment, but still.) First, it's just a good thing to do. We shouldn't be needlessly dumping negative...
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    Biking in Boston

    I think that's right, yeah. There's some problem with Cambridge's website so I'm having a hard time finding the exact language of what passed last night. I'd be kinda worried about the unfinished projects, too, though. If this is where the city council and mayor stand, there could be wiggle...
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    Addressing the housing crisis

    This doesn't seem like a good idea. We should want more and better public transit for everyone so that people actually use it and want it funded better. If we give towns the power to shut down transit, some might just want to. And the harms are unlikely to fall on actual decision makers. We...
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    Biking in Boston

    Well, shit. Cambridge voted last night to delay building the rest of the bike network. https://www.cambridgeday.com/2024/04/30/whether-called-bike-lane-extension-or-delay-order-passes-5-4-after-5-5-hours-of-comment/ About 300 people spoke at the city council meeting. I didn't listen to the...
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    Multi-Family Zoning Requirements for MBTA Communities

    I generally agree with you, so sorry if this sounds like nitpicking, but... It seems a little weird to view this a "carrot-and-stick" situation, as if new housing would be some kind of punishment. This feels like accepting some NIMBY premise that new developments will be bad and harmful. People...

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