Boynton Yards | 99-101 South/808 Windsor | Somerville

B01AA5B1-6DF7-486B-B87C-E09BF62FDCC2.jpeg
A6550BE4-F6DC-4F21-A981-29C36C2CE90B.jpeg
99E12FAB-1016-406D-AC44-7980910B3B26.jpeg
589495DA-9A23-4C02-B4E1-362644AC13B8.jpeg
A8FE46D3-18F6-4E3D-9046-A85F4874278F.jpeg
 
It looks like the Back Bay view from Prospect Hill, Somerville, is set to be replaced by the Union blob over the next few years. That's the price of progress I guess.
 
This is currently a 1/3 of a mile walk to the west-end entrance of the USq T
But woudl be super close if there were an overpass and east entrance.
 
Wait...they think 1,000+ parking spots is a benefit to the neighborhood?????? Yikes.
 
kjdonovan said:
For that neighborhood? It's a push.
Click to expand...

In this neighborhood it's a problem, because the road network back there is awful. Somerville's plan to fix it isn't much better since it only addresses the redevelopment area and not any new connections into it from Somerville Ave and Cambridge Street. I have no idea how they think people will be getting back there to park or how anyone else will be getting around there when they do.
 
I've been looking at the new zoning code and the overlay district as well. I'm not sure I understand how the developers interpret some of the parking regulations in this overlay district. To me, it appears that the entire district is restricted to 1,500 parking spots. If I remember correctly, there's already 200 at the Union Place garage. I'm not sure with the new zoning code, if i'm reading this correctly, but it appears that this single development will take up the remainder of most of the 1,300 additional off-street parking that is available to the entire Boynton Yards district?

When it comes to phasing in parking for the entire district, I don't think building this much parking without additions to the street network (really, not happening though) makes sense to start off by burdening the highly-saturated Webster, Prospect, Medford, and Cambridge street thoroughfares in the AM and PM peaks with all this office traffic. I hope the USNC and the other neighborhood groups push back against this much parking. It makes no sense, even with any amount of dollars being thrown down.
 
Arlington said:
This is currently a 1/3 of a mile walk to the west-end entrance of the USq T
But woudl be super close if there were an overpass and east entrance.
Click to expand...
I agree. The GLX stations each having only a single access point was a missed opportunity. We will have new stations which is great, but with such tortured walking paths to and from desired destinations that we’ll be asking on day 1 “why isn’t there an exit at the other end of the platform...”
 
Equilibria said:
Planning Board PPT:


Two major points: potential for bike/ped connection across the tracks, and existence of a wooden model of the future Union Square somewhere (US2 office? Somerville City Hall?)
Click to expand...

Cross-posted from the GLX thread: Union Square Station schematics (1) and (2).

Note on (2) the provision baked in by the track spread to extend the platform +20% length, corresponding to the corners of Allen & Charlestown St.'s that in (1) is the currently designated station emergency exit path (with at-grade track crossing).


This is exactly enough slack space provision to anchor an up-and-over ped bridge with secondary headhouse entrance to the station. Going by the Boynton PDF, p. 12 probable trajectory most closely corresponds to the west end of the shaded study region they ID for the crossing, spanning Windsor St. to roughly Charlestown & Linden (inclusive of some half-block lateral fudge factor on each side for switchback ramp configuration).

There's a dead-obvious enough fit here that I think they've got this completely sorted in the end. It's just going to have to be City + developer driven because the gist of Union Station's design was more or less set years ago and obviously the state didn't have the fiscal luxury post-GLX audit of graduating that second-egress into the base design. It's still all there, however, in plain sight on the linkied schematics. Rope in an actionable redev plan of the Target plaza within +3 years of the main thrust of BY leases and I think you've got more than enough momentum to do it as a quick follow-up to Union Station's opening.

Makes me wonder what the hell they were thinking about that high-concept Earle St. underpass. Forget needing to nuke the plaza...the grading isn't remotely underpass-compatible to begin with. Whoever did that render on p.11 couldn't be bothered to LMGTFY the actual slab of land and street grid in question if they came up with total make-believe elevations like in the picture.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top