321 Harrison Ave | South End

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its pretty cool that this absolute barren stretch of road at the edge of south end is going to change drastically. Now cover the pike and we gucci

Absolutely agree 100000%. They really need to put in another greenway. Connect it to both the rose kennedy greenway at one end and the southwest corridor park on the other. With the rebuilding of backbay station they really should make a passthrough to get from the corridor park to the other side. Decking the pike and creating a passthrough here would allow both to be connected.

Its near impossible to build over the pike, so its going to be a gash forever if we wait. its very easy to build a bridge though. So lay steel across... just the entire length instead of road width, and boom its covered. Then plant trees, grass, put in a ped walkway, bike lanes, plus extend herald and marginal streets, and the ugly gash is gone and Boston has yet another world class green corridor downtown, this time also connecting both prior corridors. Idk how this isnt in writing anywhere or in any plans so far.
 
They really need to put in another greenway. Connect it to both the rose kennedy greenway at one end and the southwest corridor park on the other.

I know this is a bit of a tangent, but on that topic, you could absolutely get from the Harrison Ave bridge over the Pike to the Greenway, with minimal additional construction:
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Creating a footbridge from Harrison to the tip of the triangular "island", and then gently sloping down to grade, allows use of the service road underpasses to connect up to Kneeland Street. Combined with some of the proposals to convert the large green patch on the right into a new Reggie Wong park, and the redevelopment of the parcels along Kneeland, a connection to a new "Back Bay/South End Greenway" could be really transformative. Of course, my personal tastes involve as much additional construction as possible (i.e. Columbus Center), but since the middle of the highway air rights seem to be the most difficult part to develop, perhaps going light surface park on the most difficult areas would be an optimal compromise there.

A more direct route would head directly north from the triangular island. There is a theoretical way to do this, using the existing underpass of the S. Station Connector road and the space beneath the Albany ramp, but it's less parsimonious - you'd need to build a few series of stairs or reconfigure the Albany pedestrian way to "hop" 93, or make a new narrow hamster tube, or reconfigure some of the roadways.
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I want all that too, but this dev thread isn't where we should dive into it ;)
 
Not a huge fan of keeping the existing parking structure fronting Herald St. If the Pike ever gets decked (haha) that will be a huge dead spot. Then again the Pike may never get decked. So probably a safe bet.

Why are they saving the garage again??
 
Why are they saving the garage again??
Hum, maybe they need the parking? They are doubling the office space (Garage serves 1000 Washington as well), while they are reducing the garage capacity. Does not seem unreasonable.
 
^lol the thing that gets me.... here are some of the finest high end luxury apartments in the city... smack dab in the middle of the highest polluted air in the city, state or region.
 
^lol the thing that gets me.... here are some of the finest high end luxury apartments in the city... smack dab in the middle of the highest polluted air in the city, state or region.
I thought that when I saw the balconies on 100 Shawmut, overlooking Herald Street and the Pike!
 
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Subtlty through signage. Notice on the traffic light mast that there's a new traffic signal with a green ball (vs the old for forward movement only), the removal of the "no right turn" sign, and a caution sign for making right turns onto Washington Street from Herald. This southbound movement is new on this stretch of Washington, as is the new 2-way configuration on Traveler between Harrison and Washington.
 
I drove by this on the Pike yesterday with some friends and as this came into view (93 north ramp to 90 W as you emerge from under all the viaducts), this got some ooo's and ahh's from the crowd in the car; the mix of glass types and the crenulation look great in person.
 

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