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    I-90 Interchange Improvement Project & West Station | Allston

    If I had to guess, the consultant team (and probably MassDOT too) are quite frustrated at being constantly called out for not doing their jobs well. During the meeting, no one could specify if the new layovers were needed overnight, for midday, or both, whether their were options further west on...
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    MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

    Listening to the "I-90 Allston Rail and Transit Working Group Meeting" right now and more details about the "Worcester 30-30" upgrades were presented. It would include all-day 30-minute frequencies on both a zonal express to and from Worcester and local service to and from Framingham. This was...
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    Other People's Rail: Amtrak, commuter rail, rapid transit news & views outside New England

    From what I've seen, it looks unlikely that traditional NYC subway cars will be run along the corridor even if it is fully grade-separated. The local Transit Worker's Union (TWU) is very strongly opposed to automation and I believe has a handshake agreement with the MTA to not automate subway...
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    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    I can't help but feeling a bit disappointed that we are going to be seeing more weeklong shutdowns, especially for "proactive rail maintenance" and "infrastructure work". Cynically, it looks like the earlier TIP work was not done as well as later shutdowns, to the point where some of it requires...
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    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    https://www.mbta.com/news/2025-01-17/mbta-shares-planned-service-outage-scheduled-january-june-2025 Noted outages: RL Ashmont to JFK/UMass from April 1 – April 9 for proactive rail maintenance. OL North Station to Oak Grove from May 10 – May 18 to support MassDOT’s Maffa...
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    MBTA "Transformation" (Green Line, Red Line, & Orange Line Transformation Projects)

    I was reviewing the video for this event and there was a mention of making improvements to the Green Line central tunnel with the implication it would result in lower headways (roughly between timestamps 1:08:20 and 1:08:50). I understand GLTPS should help some on this front, but are there other...
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    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    The answer is it doesn't unless it's done nationally. However, there is a user fee that solves this problem. Unfortunately, that answer is tolling.
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    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    This is somewhat tangential, but one of Boston's participatory budget ideas is for bus stop bench installation. More specifically: For more information and for budget voting: https://www.boston.gov/departments/participatory-budgeting/ideas-action-cycle-one-proposals
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    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    While this is pretty clearly not what the Millionaire's Tax was intended for, and it's not a long term a long-term fix, I don't hate it. If it weren't for the states abysmal track record of funding the T, I'd say it's a very reasonable stop gap. It's fairly reasonable to expect both sides of the...
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    Roads and Highways General Development Thread

    It's regressive on drivers, but not necessarily the whole population. If the congestion charge ends up effectively being a transfer from drivers to transit riders (which seems to be the plan), it becomes much less clear how regressive (or progressive) the tax is. With most trips to Lower...
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    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    I believe the plan is to only update maps at stations/stops affected by the current phase of BNRD, as well as all rail vehicles. This seems to be confirmed by this slide from November's board meeting, and the presenter echoed the same remarks when asked about map replacements.
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    Allston-Brighton Infill and Small Developments

    https://www.universalhub.com/2025/ups-and-downs-allstons-north-beacon-street-life Hopefully this is the first step of stalled lab construction in this area turning into housing, but I won't hold my breath.
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    Other People's Rail: Amtrak, commuter rail, rapid transit news & views outside New England

    I'm absolutely not going to defend Brightline's safety record. The route is way to dangerous, especially considering how recently it was built. That being said, it would make more sense to compare total revenue miles instead of the system length. It appears that they are running 16 round trips a...
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    Police Details, Cameras, & Enforcement Methods

    These seem to be basically the same issue. If a police union is serving it's members effectively, it will advocate for them to get paid as much as possible for as little work as possible, while also making it very difficult to get fired. Strong police unions just make it harder to reprimand cops...
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    I-90 Interchange Improvement Project & West Station | Allston

    This is definitely a point of discussion. West Station will effectively be built as a deck over Worcester line, and I'm pretty sure current plans are to integrate development with it. As for the rest of the site, the only decking reference I could quickly find are here, as part of BPD's Beacon...
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    I-90 Interchange Improvement Project & West Station | Allston

    Living in Allston-Brighton, it is really difficult to be upset about adding a yard here. As Stlin mentioned, the loss of developable land can be almost completely mitigated by building footings up front, and Harvard can basically be forced into funding them (it's not like a few hundred million...
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    Allston-Brighton Infill and Small Developments

    1954 Commonwealth Avenue "[The Proponent] proposes to develop a 26-unit multi-family residential development by relocating closer to Commonwealth Avenue and preserving the Site’s existing historic residence [...] and constructing behind the house a new 6-story building with connected central...
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    MBTA "Transformation" (Green Line, Red Line, & Orange Line Transformation Projects)

    I would hope this is just a placeholder name for planning documents and if the town of Brookline asked for a different name, they would get it. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if it just becomes "Brandon Hall" after all the paperwork is filed, but the planners are concerned about residents...
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    Great Scott Redevelopment | 1 Harvard Ave | Allston

    An LOI for building a Great Scott successor has been filed. We'll have to wait for the PNF, but some key points below: BPD Project: https://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/1-harvard-avenue For more context...
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    MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

    I could be wrong, but this seems to only imply that 30 minute headways and 4-car diesel sets will (optimistically) happen by 2026. BEMUs are almost certainly not going to be used for any Commuter Rail service before the Fairmount Line pilot in 2028.

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