128 Widening

Taken back on January 29th.

28bv49l.jpg


Yes its true. If you have not driven Route 128 SB lately the section through Needham at Great Plain Avenue there is a huge traffic shift. So if you are in the left high speed lane or left lane you go across the median travel next to Northbound traffic cross a temporary bridge at Route 135 and then merge back with traffic before the prison. The right travel lane stays on the Southbound side and uses the first half of the new Southbound Charles River Bridge.

All this is to accommodate the demolition and replacement of the existing Southbound Charles River Bridge.
 
Last edited:
6e3bdt.jpg


2k4yes.jpg


Photos were taken January 29th showing the Demolition of the existing Charles River and Route 135 Southbound bridges.
 
matredsoxfan said:
Yes its true. If you have not driven Route 128 SB lately the section through Needham at Great Plain Avenue there is a huge traffic shift. So if you are in the left high speed lane or left lane you go across the median travel next to Northbound traffic cross a temporary bridge at Route 135 and then merge back with traffic before the prison. The right travel lane stays on the Southbound side and uses the first half of the new Southbound Charles River Bridge.

All this is to accommodate the demolition and replacement of the existing Southbound Charles River Bridge.
Click to expand...

Yes I missed my exit because I was stuck in the middle lane at the split. Annoying since that exit (17, rte 135) was already a detour from my more direct exit (16, Great Plain Ave) in which the overpass has been closed for at least a year by now.
 
Later in July (July 22nd to be exact) the final contract will be opened for bids. Estimated to cost $135 Million the final contract will add a 12 foot travel lane and 10 Foot shoulder from the end of current construction in Needham to Route 9 in Wellesley. The project will include....

-Replacement of the Kendrick Street Bridge and construction of brand new interchange

- Construction of collector/distributor roadway between Kendrick Street & Highland Avenue

- Replacement of Highland Avenue Bridge

- Replacement of I-95 bridges over Central Street

- Complete reconstruction of the Route 9 Interchange including bridge replacement, ramp realignment, new traffic signals on Route 9 at the NB & SB ramps.
 
I wonder when they'll start on this final stretch? They still are not even half way done with the 109 overpass replacement and the 135 bridge section probably won't be fully complete until early 2015.
 
Does anyone know if the route 24 interchange is on their agenda? There's a horrendous pothole in the fast lane, on the I-93 North overpass over rte 24.

Well, it could be a very small pothole, but since its in the passing lane... oof. Hitting it at 70 mph is no fun.
 
CSTH said:
There's a disused rail bridge in there too just north of Highland Ave. Is that going to be replaced with a wider span?
Click to expand...

The bridge is coming out, but new abutments are going in (last I checked). If the MBTA or the Town of Needham ever wants to pay for a new span there (either for Green Line or for a mixed-use path), MassDOT will be prepared to install one. It's not included in this project, though.
 
Kahta said:
Project website here

http://www.mhd.state.ma.us/default.asp?pgid=content/128_95_addLane&sid=about

Should be a huge improvement over current operations
Click to expand...

Well yes, but they're botching Route 9. The awful, unsafe entrance from William to WB Route 9 is not getting touched. It's so bad that the Wellesley PD has had to place a cop there during rush hour every day for at least 15 years. Actually, I'm not sure how Wellesley didn't vehemently object when the layouts came out. It's definitely not up to FHWA standards for merging distance.
 
Equilibria said:
Well yes, but they're botching Route 9. The awful, unsafe entrance from William to WB Route 9 is not getting touched. It's so bad that the Wellesley PD has had to place a cop there during rush hour every day for at least 15 years. Actually, I'm not sure how Wellesley didn't vehemently object when the layouts came out. It's definitely not up to FHWA standards for merging distance.
Click to expand...

Whoever built that small business park clearly did not think the location out that well, or at least how to build access to it. I will agree that getting into/out of it is a mess and needs to be fixed.
 
Equilibria said:
Well yes, but they're botching Route 9. The awful, unsafe entrance from William to WB Route 9 is not getting touched. It's so bad that the Wellesley PD has had to place a cop there during rush hour every day for at least 15 years. Actually, I'm not sure how Wellesley didn't vehemently object when the layouts came out. It's definitely not up to FHWA standards for merging distance.
Click to expand...

While true, a light can easily be added there on the westbound side. And that light should be paid by the office park owner, not the state. This isn't some new development which needs some public investment for it to be built. This is an old(er) office park, and the owners have no doubt recouped their investment long ago. It's their problem and they should fix it.

As for Wellesley not objecting, why would they? Their PD has a guaranteed lucrative detail 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year.
 
HalcyonEra said:
While true, a light can easily be added there on the westbound side. And that light should be paid by the office park owner, not the state. This isn't some new development which needs some public investment for it to be built. This is an old(er) office park, and the owners have no doubt recouped their investment long ago. It's their problem and they should fix it.
Click to expand...

You're not going to add a light to the entire westbound side of Route 9 without a major traffic study, and since Route 9 is a MassDOT road, that traffic study would have been the same one that handled the rest of the interchange. Regardless of who was paying for the installation, MassDOT should have taken notice of the issue when designing the ramps, and they didn't.

The problem is that there's really no other place for that access to go, since it needs a rock cut to get down to Route 9 as is and the rest of the complex is surrounded by the highway and the river. Really, the only option would be to move the WB/NB onramp further west, which the geometry should allow. In an extreme case, that access would be signalized.

There's no way that office park gets built today (for environmental reasons as much as access ones). MassDOT would kill it.
 
Equilibria said:
It's so bad that the Wellesley PD has had to place a cop there during rush hour every day for at least 15 years.
Click to expand...

Isn't the daily police detail paid for by the owner/operators of The Wellesley Office Park?
 
BosDevelop said:
Isn't the daily police detail paid for by the owner/operators of The Wellesley Office Park?
Click to expand...

Yes, but what concerns me isn't who pays for it. If there needs to be a cop there, one should take that as an indication that the geometry is flawed and unsafe.
 
Equilibria said:
Yes, but what concerns me isn't who pays for it. If there needs to be a cop there, one should take that as an indication that the geometry is flawed and unsafe.
Click to expand...

Which makes me wonder why the park was allowed to be built in the first place. Seems like they just shoved it in there with no regard for the flow of traffic entering and exiting.
 
mass88 said:
Which makes me wonder why the park was allowed to be built in the first place. Seems like they just shoved it in there with no regard for the flow of traffic entering and exiting.
Click to expand...

I don't know. I thought that the highway might not have been limited access yet when the office park went in, but the good folks at Historic Aerials show that's not true...

http://www.historicaerials.com/aeri...71.289741516113&lat=42.297760009766&year=1955

If you follow the sequence from 1955 to 1969, you see William start to develop from a quiet lane lined with houses to the current office park. My guess: it was totally grandfathered in.
 
My girlfriend used to work in that office park. The cop is needed, but is all that's needed, and only around 5 when the whole park empties out. Why waste the money fixing it right for an hours worth of traffic a day?

The bigger issue I see is removing the cloverleaf will prevent the office park people from using as a uturn for route 9.
 
davem said:
My girlfriend used to work in that office park. The cop is needed, but is all that's needed, and only around 5 when the whole park empties out. Why waste the money fixing it right for an hours worth of traffic a day?
Click to expand...

Those businesses in the park need to stagger their employees then...
 
Doesn't all traffic coming out of the office park turn right? If so, why is any police detail needed?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top