Bowker Overpass replacement?

JohnAKeith said:
I think that any major renovations of the Bowker overpass, Longfellow bridge, and Storrow Drive have been stymied by Back Bay residents, led by their fearless leader, Marty Walz, who say they don't want anything changed but everything made better. So, they continue to make spot emergency repairs without planning for the future. This happened when the roadway gave way on Storrow, hitting a car. Instead of immediately going to work on a plan to fix it, they simply patched it up.

They've spent millions to patch up the Longfellow bridge, pushing forward any plans for major design (which are moving at a glacial pace, no?).

What is bound to happen is a catastrophe followed by emergency road closures at which point something will be done.
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I think Walz secretly favors the demolition of the Bowker, if she can be convinced the numbers the transportation consultant provides on surface streets absorbing traffic are legit. It's a wasteland and an eyesore and she's said as much in public.

The Johnny One Notes who live nearby are another story though. I can't wait for Mizz Kressel (the lady herself: a Boston "resident" of 18 years who tries to pass as born-and-bred) to give a homily on zoning, FAR and as-of-right. SHIRLZ? CAN YOU HEAR ME?
 
You don't think 18 years is long enough residency to have a legitimate opinion on local affairs?
 
Some archBOSTON love from Universal Hub on our totally freaking awesome rip-the-f***ing-Bowker-down discussions:

http://www.universalhub.com/2011/they-paved-paradise-and-put-storrow-ramp

The historical pics of what Charlesgate looked like before that pox was built are amazing. Also links to diagrams of the two formal proposed replacement plans (I much prefer the less-invasive one that preserves the existing Charlesgate street grid). To even reclaim a little bit of it between Comm Ave. East and Beacon would be transformative. And I think most of that induced-demand extra traffic from the overpass is just going to disappear when it's gone and not really make the at-grade intersections much worse than they are now. Maybe even better than now if they do signal prioritization and better-designed merges and left-turn lanes.
 
Has this been posted here before?

http://charlesgateparkfriends.wordpress.com/the-plan/

bowker-concepts-2_page_21.jpg
 
VHB has a solid proposal there. Not sure I have seen it on paper though I have heard about it.
 
The only thing I am not clear on is, does the East bound traffic on Storrow still get to exit at Bowker? The new design seems unclear to me. There is no new (pink) exits from Storrow and the existing to be removed (green) is the current way to exit.
 
It appears that both the east and westbound local exits from Storrow to Charlesgate West would be eliminated. There would still be exits from Storrow onto Comm Ave, though, as the overpass that currently goes over Comm Ave would instead cross Comm Ave at ground level, providing turning movement onto Comm Ave.
 
I modified the design to eliminate even more of the overpass. I think this opens up the area much better:

bowker.jpg
 
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^ Excellent! Looks like it could be pretty good. Though, if the grade of Com Ave needs to be bumped up to make a reasonable intersection with the new Bowker roadway, then you may have to shift the intersection a little further east, just a bit. But I like all the space that's freed up. It looks good.
 
The new bridge over the Pike would follow an alignment similar to the existing southbound on-ramp from Comm Ave to Bowker overpass. So it may fit without raising Comm Ave.

Another option would be to leave the on/off ramps leading to the existing bridge over the Pike, demolish the main overpass crossing of Comm Ave and Newbury Street, and rebuild the intersection with Storrow as I depicted.
 
Charlie_mta said:
The new bridge over the Pike would follow an alignment similar to the existing southbound on-ramp from Comm Ave to Bowker overpass. So it may fit without raising Comm Ave.

Another option would be to leave the on/off ramps leading to the existing bridge over the Pike, demolish the main overpass crossing of Comm Ave and Newbury Street, and rebuild the intersection with Storrow as I depicted.
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That would probably be the easiest thing to do because the Pike bridge is maintained by the Turnpike Authority while the rest of it would be a MassHighway-only project (now that they've taken all the parkways away from DCR). As there's nothing wrong with the Pike overpass itself alignment-wise and it's in pretty good condition it probably would be better to use a few fewer rolls of state red tape to do this and not make too many agencies and sub-agencies...ugh..."collaborate" with each other.
 
Two things:

Newbury should be made continuous for the first time ever if the opportunity arises.

Your second proposal won't work because of the turning radii. If anything land should be added to the Esplanade similar to the segment from Hatch Shell to shortly before the Harvard Bridge. That would provide enough space to realign the roadway and eliminate the existing pinch point along the Charles River Path.
 
The Turnpike Authority no longer exists. It's all MassHighway now.
 
If this is going to be a parkway rather than an expressway, turning radii are unimportant. Take a look at the Jamaicaway-Huntington Ave cloverleaf to see how tight a turning radius can be and still work well.
 
Hell, look at parking lots, they're full of 90 degree turns. Turning radius is for chumps.
 
It would be wonderful to connect the Fens to both the Esplande and the Commonwealth Mall. Good solution.
 
Received a letter from Friends of the Charlesgate in the mail today. There is a DOT meeting on the future of the Bowker Overpass on June 12th from 6-8pm in the BPL Mezzanine Conference Room.
 
That left turn onto storrow west is going to be a LOS F for 14 hours a day from the day that it opens and it will turn into the same sitaution as Edwin Land Blvd and route 28-- gridlock at intersections during peak demand periods.
 
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