22 Water St | North Point Area | Cambridge

Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

Tango said:
That Lechmere T Station is an eyesore. I suppose that people who stay at the Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn or the new Marriott under construction will see a map of the area and think that it is great to be so close to a T stop. I wonder what they think when they see a "shack" with broken windows? I do not think that the station even has a bathroom for T employees. Maybe the T could put up a few posters of the proposed Lechmere T Station so that visitors could get the impression that this is not permanent. As residents we are used to this station but it is an embarrassment when visitors see this as part of our transportation system. It did not have to get this bad.
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This shack .. no matter what it looks like .. is still a real transportation node. People will continue to build around it.

cca
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

cca said:
This shack .. no matter what it looks like .. is still a real transportation node. People will continue to build around it.
cca
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Sadly, this is the state of affairs of many stations in Boston.

No matter: whenever friends and family are in town, I do just what Tango says ... "Yeah, this will only be here for a few more years while they build the new Lechmere metro..."
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

F-Line to Dudley said:
O'Brien from Lechmere Sq. to the Fitchburg Line overpass only needs a lane-drop, bike/bus stop lane, and less narrow sidewalks to become tolerably multi-user. It's the screaming high-speed traffic inches away on that sidewalk barely wide enough for 2 people to pass each other that makes it DESPAIR. The volumes are so low on that stretch now all that capacity serves no purpose except making it a drag strip. They could fix that today if they wanted to...well ahead of blowing up the McCarthy overpass..
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While these suggestions would be simple to do, long term I'm wondering if it's feasible to put in a cycle track northbound? One big problem with this side of the roads is the lack of a parking lane, taking away a buffer for pedestrians from traffic. A cycle track with some kind of bollard separation would provide this far better than a traditional bike/bus stop lane. You'd still have two lanes, the buses could just stop in the right lane, which would provide natural traffic calming. The stops on this section are in front of the Superior Nut building and the strip mall with Sav-Mor, both areas that should be completely revamped long term, so you could integrate stops into that.

I think it's safe assumption that the blighted properties are going to overturn instantly when Water St. and the Lechmere station relocation anchors Lechmere Sq. Property values at Superior Nut, the car wash, and Sav-Mor are just going to be too high for those tenants to stay. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody scooped up those buildings long ago and is just sitting on them waiting for Lechmere Sq. to advance enough to evict the tenants and raze the buildings. Doubt the other side of the street is going to have used car mini-lots and mini-garages too much longer either.
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This is the interesting stuff. I feel like making this a safer multi use transit corridor is shooting too low, it can be an excellent urban boulevard. If you have a cycle track on the northbound side you can put a parking lane southbound, then demolish all those used car lots and offices and build 3-4 story mixed use buildings with ground floor retail. I suppose the problem with this is that some of the homes on Gore and (especially) Winter St abut real close to the southbound 28 lots, due to the weird angle of those streets. Still there seem like good parcels with building potential. The current Lechmere station and the Lechmere Autowash Center lots seem big enough and unobtrusive enough that you could build with some decent height. It's just most of the corridor between those spots that seems cramped.

It just seems frustrating to me that an area like this with such excellent access is so dismal. It really should be more than even a good transit corridor but a destination in itself. At the very least it should provide walkable small scale retail for the high density housing going up in the area in North Point. It also would be good if they could somehow connect it to the Brickbottom neighborhood of Somerville, which is another area that needs significant re-imagining/re-purposing. They seem to have the space over there, and will also be getting a Green line stop.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

The problem is that Cambridge St. is already the commercial district. O'Brien just has 24-hour Dunks and McD's for the motorists.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

pixelsand8 said:
While these suggestions would be simple to do, long term I'm wondering if it's feasible to put in a cycle track northbound? One big problem with this side of the roads is the lack of a parking lane, taking away a buffer for pedestrians from traffic. A cycle track with some kind of bollard separation would provide this far better than a traditional bike/bus stop lane. You'd still have two lanes, the buses could just stop in the right lane, which would provide natural traffic calming. The stops on this section are in front of the Superior Nut building and the strip mall with Sav-Mor, both areas that should be completely revamped long term, so you could integrate stops into that.



This is the interesting stuff. I feel like making this a safer multi use transit corridor is shooting too low, it can be an excellent urban boulevard. If you have a cycle track on the northbound side you can put a parking lane southbound, then demolish all those used car lots and offices and build 3-4 story mixed use buildings with ground floor retail. I suppose the problem with this is that some of the homes on Gore and (especially) Winter St abut real close to the southbound 28 lots, due to the weird angle of those streets. Still there seem like good parcels with building potential. The current Lechmere station and the Lechmere Autowash Center lots seem big enough and unobtrusive enough that you could build with some decent height. It's just most of the corridor between those spots that seems cramped.

It just seems frustrating to me that an area like this with such excellent access is so dismal. It really should be more than even a good transit corridor but a destination in itself. At the very least it should provide walkable small scale retail for the high density housing going up in the area in North Point. It also would be good if they could somehow connect it to the Brickbottom neighborhood of Somerville, which is another area that needs significant re-imagining/re-purposing. They seem to have the space over there, and will also be getting a Green line stop.
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Bike lane stripe over the bridge might be a little bit of a reach, I agree. I was thinking more: go for it if there's room, but prioritize the traffic calming and sidewalk widening above all else. The sidewalk is definitely, definitely fixable with a lane-drop. As long as they can flank both sides of the bridge with bike routes up the Community Path on the Brickbottom side and Medford St. on the plaza side the cyclists will reach Washington St. and the post-McCarthy square-to-be-named-later at the Washington GLX stop all the same. But I know all too well from living off Washington and working near Cambridgeside back in the day...that sidewalk is a real daily walking commute for many residents, and there is no reason in hell why they should have to put up with that DESPAIR of a sidewalk. I don't even care that it's not pretty scenery to look at. The sidewalk's unsafe and that should've been fixed 10 years ago when the Big Dig's opening made a third of McGrath's rush hour volumes vanish on those excessive 6 lanes.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

The developers of Northpoint are reworking Monsignor O'Brien between 1st and 3rd as part of the Lechmere station project. The plans are as follows:

* Reduce to 2 lanes each direction
* 6-foot bike lanes on each side
* Widen sidewalks
* Widen center median, goal is to provide room for pedestrians to wait mid-crossing when heading to new Lechmere station
* Traffic calming with more street lights, landscaped median, etc. Maybe even raised crosswalks.
* Rename to Monsignor O'Brien Boulevard
* No parking spaces planned on either side, apparently because this is a state highway that is not allowed?
* Re-align 1st street to connect with Northpoint parcel once Lechmere concrete train ramp is removed.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

abdinoor said:
The developers of Northpoint are reworking Monsignor O'Brien between 1st and 3rd as part of the Lechmere station project. The plans are as follows:

* Reduce to 2 lanes each direction
* 6-foot bike lanes on each side
* Widen sidewalks
* Widen center median, goal is to provide room for pedestrians to wait mid-crossing when heading to new Lechmere station
* Traffic calming with more street lights, landscaped median, etc. Maybe even raised crosswalks.
* Rename to Monsignor O'Brien Boulevard
* No parking spaces planned on either side, apparently because this is a state highway that is not allowed?
* Re-align 1st street to connect with Northpoint parcel once Lechmere concrete train ramp is removed.
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Now they just need to extend that boulevard concept on out thru Somerville.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

cozzyd said:
The problem is that Cambridge St. is already the commercial district. O'Brien just has 24-hour Dunks and McD's for the motorists.
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Redevelopment and redesign will help to change that though. Medium term to be sure, but it will happen.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

abdinoor said:
* No parking spaces planned on either side, apparently because this is a state highway that is not allowed?
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I would imagine curb cuts and bus stops make the theoretical number of potential new on-street spaces from Lechmere to the bridge too low to bother force-fitting, and it just ends up being less hassle to bike/bus stripe. That area definitely isn't short of parking with the relocated Lechmere lot, the plaza, Cambridgeside, plenty of metered spaces on Cambridge St. and 3rd, Northpoint having self-contained parking capacity for its residents, and abundance of resident permit parking on all the side streets.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

F-Line to Dudley said:
I would imagine curb cuts and bus stops make the theoretical number of potential new on-street spaces from Lechmere to the bridge too low to bother force-fitting, and it just ends up being less hassle to bike/bus stripe. That area definitely isn't short of parking with the relocated Lechmere lot, the plaza, Cambridgeside, plenty of metered spaces on Cambridge St. and 3rd, Northpoint having self-contained parking capacity for its residents, and abundance of resident permit parking on all the side streets.
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Well the reason I would want parking is not cause it's needed but because it would provide a buffer between pedestrians and traffic. A cycle track with bollards though could provide the same thing, while taking up less space. I just don't like bike lanes either functionally or aesthetically, though these would probably be decent given the lack of a door zone form a parking lane. Still, bikes should be separated from traffic on roads this busy, imo.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

I imagine parallel parked cars also have a marginal effect on slowing down traffic as well, at least in the inside lane. We're really getting off topic here. Perhaps this conversation be better in the McGrath thread?
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

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Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

wow, that gas station is charging about 50 cents a gallon more than what I paid the other day.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

BosDevelop said:
wow, that gas station is charging about 50 cents a gallon more than what I paid the other day.
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And it's one of the more pothole marred and dirtier filling stations in the area, too. Triple trouble!
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

ivyhedge said:
And it's one of the more pothole marred and dirtier filling stations in the area, too. Triple trouble!
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Location, location, location. Right across the street from the plaza, and it's the only parkway gas station on the west side of Northpoint unless you go all the way to the Shell on Memorial or that mom-and-pop at McGrath/Pearl. So they get outsized business by default, don't give a crap about being price-competitive, and don't have to keep up appearances of being a clean or well-maintained neighbor. Especially with that newer station up at McGrath/Medford being such a colossal flop and going out of business.

There needs to be a gas station in that area. I just wish it were at the plaza where the McDonalds so the traffic can all get funneled by the plaza light + driveway instead of requiring 18 curb cuts of its own on the other side of the street.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

There's another Shell across the Austin St Bridge in Charlestown, and it's actually pretty nice. For a gas station.
 
Re: 22 Water Str. (North Point Area), Cambridge, MA

This will be a fun intersection to see develop in the next decade. Is there any chance (or even a desire or need) for more urban development between 22 Water and the Fitchburg line? Superior Nut Company building, 22, and the new GLX tracks will form a pinch here, cutting off the mostly Somerville parcels west of them (Sav-Mor, Shell, etc.).

Maybe some day. 51 McGrath is a nice building that wants to make some friends. https://www.google.com/maps/@42.374...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sSVHQuBDnaD0ftdRS4P9pWw!2e0
 
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