Boston's Comprehensive Transportation Plan Unveiled 3/7/2017

shmessy

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Two years in the making. To be unveiled today:


http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...re/a7HEnWtWsY7VI1LIaYUgxJ/story.html#comments

"The future of transportation in Boston includes fewer cars on the road, heavy reliance on public transit, and lots of so-called microhubs, one-stop access points where commuters can share a bus, bike, or car.

Those initiatives are detailed in a comprehensive plan that city officials will unveil Tuesday, a transportation blueprint for the next decade that puts heavy emphasis on a growing city population and the various ways residents get around.

The blueprint, called Go Boston 2030 Vision and Action Plan, lists the city’s guiding transportation principles — such as equity, economic opportunity, and climate responsiveness — and its top policies — such as repairs to roads and bridges, restructuring all bus routes, and reducing traffic fatalities and crashes.

Boston has seen its population surge by 30,000 people in the last three years, has added 60,000 jobs, and remains an economic engine for the state, Mayor Martin J. Walsh said Monday in remarks about the blueprint. Many residents own cars but don’t always use them, opting for public transit, Walsh said, making reliable public transit vital to the city’s future......."

Click for more.
 
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Glad to see they are promoting bus lanes. Kinda surprised they actually promote Orange Line to Roslindale. Still disappointed in lousy Seaport transit ideas.

Overall though this is packed with great, affordable ideas. Still light on the big budget items but after the GLX clusterfuck I'm not surprised.
 
Discussion panel at 6 PM at the BPL tonight. I'll be going.
 
Disappointed in some of the timelines, but they are probably realistic. Saying I-90 Newton Urban rail is 15+ years out means it doesn't fit within the 2030 transit plan. While I'm remain hopeful and advocate for the project, it is pretty unlikely to happen.
 
I have a suggestion:

Make the T run on time.
 
I skimmed through that and it seems like a lot of smart and well thought out, but incremental improvements. Probably the best that we can hope for outside of major infrastructure investments.

I especially like the focus on safe streets, protected bike lanes, and dedicated bus lanes. It makes sense to utilize the already-existing road infrastructure in the most transit-friendly way possible.

It would have been nice to see a couple of "big ideas" in there too, even if they're not entirely realistic. Things like a blue/red connector, SL tunnel to Logan, etc.
 
Seems a bit patchy in terms of focus. No love for Cleveland Circle, at all, for example.
 
Seems a bit patchy in terms of focus. No love for Cleveland Circle, at all, for example.

Cleveland Circle is barely in Boston and the report is Boston-only, so that's probably why. Hard to say much about it if you're not including Brookline.
 
Cleveland Circle is having improvements through the Cinema redevelopment project.
Not saying it'll fix everything, but it should help. definitely signal timing improvements and maybe pavement markings. I dont remember exactly.
 
Seems a bit patchy in terms of focus. No love for Cleveland Circle, at all, for example.

The Plan makes a big deal about geographic equity. That neighborhood is way too rich and white to be promised improvements.

EDIT: Just to be clear, I don't think that's a bad thing.
 
Very glad to see all the discussion on smart signaling technology for both bus corridors and green line.

Overall a nice document, but I remain healthily skeptical because this is a city document, yet many of the implementation ideas requires cooperation/partnering with non-city entities. I hope they can pull it off.
 
I liked the comment by one of the panelists about the importance of using the regular activities of the transportation department to accomplish a lot of these goals. For example, when regular signal retiming takes place, that should be the time when the signals are brought into better compliance with the new policies for maximizing walk signal timing, for example, and that when streets are regularly resurfaced, the striping configurations should be changed to add bike lanes, bus lanes, painted curb extensions with flex posts, etc. It shouldn't only be large capital projects in which meaningful changes are made to our streets to meet our long term goals.
 
Really interesting document overall. As to there being no "big ticket" items, I feel like South Station Expansion and West Station's construction are pretty major, and this plan relies on those two things' happening. Extending the Green Line and Orange Line won't be cheap either. Same for the Indigo Line. And repurposing that freight rail line into the Seaport. But I suppose none of those are really on the city to get done alone. All the bike infrastructure is what makes me happy.

I don't see this proposed plan as precluding other, larger projects. If the MBTA or MassDOT or a private developer wants to do something bigger, or even if the city decides that it wants to leave this plan or can afford something more, they can go right ahead. Meanwhile, hopefully, our streets will be becoming far friendlier to cyclists and pedestrians and car travel will be reduced.
 
Number of Uber trips beginning or ending in Boston:
7,580,000 (2014)
27,000,000 (2016)

Between Uber and Lyft, this means ride share accounted for at least 80,000 trips per day in 2016. And if Uber's flat fare packages gain traction and become a fixture in the rideshare scene, then our policymakers and planners will need to think very seriously about how this affects all transportation modes.
 
I feel like South Station Expansion and West Station's construction are pretty major.

The SSX board in the exhibition in the lower level of the BPL (outside Rabb) was covered in sticky notes with negative comments and mentions of the NSRL.
 
It is amazing what a train stop can do to a town. Somerville was one of the area's seedyist cities, but when they put in the Red Line, BOOM it's all hipsters.
 
It is amazing what a train stop can do to a town. Somerville was one of the area's seedyist cities, but when they put in the Red Line, BOOM it's all hipsters.

While I'm as pro-transit as anyone on this board, correlation does not equal causation. There has been a national trend of gentrification and re-urbanization over the last 10-15 years. You can't attribute Somerville's growth (solely) to the Red Line.
 
It is amazing what a train stop can do to a town. Somerville was one of the area's seedyist cities, but when they put in the Red Line, BOOM it's all hipsters.

While I'm as pro-transit as anyone on this board, correlation does not equal causation. There has been a national trend of gentrification and re-urbanization over the last 10-15 years. You can't attribute Somerville's growth (solely) to the Red Line.

See: Quincy
 
The SSX board in the exhibition in the lower level of the BPL (outside Rabb) was covered in sticky notes with negative comments and mentions of the NSRL.

That's terrifying, considering that the only reason people think that is because of politicking by Seth Moulton. He's trying to help, but he's actually hurting. Same goes for Dukakis and Weld.
 

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