atlantaden
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Bulfinch Crossing | Congress Street Garage | West End
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stick n move
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This is really the first time so far that Ive thought wow its almost gone.
Badusername
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Does anyone know at what time they are doing this work? Do they only do demo work when the GL is shut down overnight? Or are they able to make progress during the day?
Delvin4519
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I think once they cleared the floor planks over the Green Line tunnel, it started to set in that a decent portion of the garage is finally down with. Now it’s “what bits of the garage are still up”, and finally no longer “what bits of the garage were removed”.
Also the same time the North Washington Street bridge is starting to make progress. Only 16 months late for the GCG garage, and the bridge to Charlestown. This part of the city is finally starting to have things moving soon.
goldenretrievers
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i wish they would've built the residential tower II prior to moving to the life sciences building across the street...button up that mega block first, take more time to get the adjacent block *right* before starting
They can make progress during the day on portions not over the green line, but it seems it's rather surgical to deal with the weight/balance of the whole structure, so they can only do so much for the portion not over the green line before they have to go back to the portion over the green line and remove some, then go back. Just guessing based on observations..
At massive downtown Boston garage, demolition drags on and on - The Boston Globe
A fatal accident and negotiations with the MBTA have pushed deconstruction of the Government Center Garage — and the closure of Congress Street — well past the original completion date.
www.bostonglobe.com
Key takeaway:
"........ As for when that might actually happen, HYM now says demolition of the garage should be “substantially complete” by early next year, at which point they will start work on a 12-story life-science building along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway....."
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real_EthanHunt
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They are required to get the bus stop reopened within a certain time frame so that is why east parcel is being done next. it's also why it went from 3 buildings (with 2 over the orange/green lines) to 1 that is not over T infrastructure.
At massive downtown Boston garage, demolition drags on and on - The Boston Globe
A fatal accident and negotiations with the MBTA have pushed deconstruction of the Government Center Garage — and the closure of Congress Street — well past the original completion date.
Key takeaway:
"........ As for when that might actually happen, HYM now says demolition of the garage should be “substantially complete” by early next year, at which point they will start work on a 12-story life-science building along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway....."
View attachment 42151
Reading the article - my impression is that the MBTA is the main limiting factor that lead to the long delays here? Is this just the framing of the journalist influenced by HYM or is there really some truth to that? The Globe's current set of journalists generally seem very aloof to the actual causation of things at the T (unless they're getting the story from Transit Matters) and are a bit cozier with developers and financiers, so, I'm generally skeptical of their general frame. But, at least with the information in this article, it seems very much like much of this is the T shooting themselves in their own foot.
commuter guy
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I appreciate your skepticism, but actions speak louder than words - think about the narrative the MBTA was selling with the whole Orange Line shutdown. If anything the press was giving them a pass back then. Full disclosure, I don't have any behind the scenes knowledge, but I work nearby and this demo project is so much slower than any other I've seen, so it doesn't surprise me in the least that the MBTA is responsible for the extended timeline.
Good points, as02143 and commuter guy - - the dynamic there with the MBTA has been, ahem, complicated.
However, the OTHER key takeaway I get from that excellent piece by Carlock (she is one of my favorite reads, even before she got to the Globe) was right before my previous posted quote (bold and underlines mine):
" In Michlewitz’s view, the MBTA did not prioritize rapid progress on the garage’s demolition, and missed an opportunity to move things forward during the monthlong Orange Line shutdown last year. But he gives Eng credit for allowing work to move more quickly in recent months.
“I feel the previous administration really did not take the timing mechanism of this as seriously as they should have done,” Michlewitz said. “The new administration has certainly seen the light on why this needed to come down as soon as possible.”
If I could editorialize for a moment , the MBTA is undergoing a profound culture shift that may take two to three years, but it is indeed in motion. The days of Governor Charlie McHighways StudeBaker vandalizing public transportation are clearly over. I don't know much else about Healey but cannot help but be impressed at the depth of change she is affecting by bringing in, not only Eng (who has made some impressive appointments under him) , but also Gina Fiandaca to be the Secretary of Transportation and Tom Glynn to be the Board of Directors Chair. Further, Eng is bringing in several of his NY and DC veterans - - he's not messing around. Particularly interesting (in this thread's context vis a vis the Haymarket Station garage demo and safety concerns/delays) is his appointment of Dennis Varley a few weeks ago to be the chief of each individual station safety and maintenance - - this guy is a well-respected veteran transpo enginneer, and will probably help immensely with the Haymarket station situation. Let's compare these people to the mix of folks Baker threw on during his administration. I'm guardedly optimistic.
However, the OTHER key takeaway I get from that excellent piece by Carlock (she is one of my favorite reads, even before she got to the Globe) was right before my previous posted quote (bold and underlines mine):
" In Michlewitz’s view, the MBTA did not prioritize rapid progress on the garage’s demolition, and missed an opportunity to move things forward during the monthlong Orange Line shutdown last year. But he gives Eng credit for allowing work to move more quickly in recent months.
“I feel the previous administration really did not take the timing mechanism of this as seriously as they should have done,” Michlewitz said. “The new administration has certainly seen the light on why this needed to come down as soon as possible.”
If I could editorialize for a moment , the MBTA is undergoing a profound culture shift that may take two to three years, but it is indeed in motion. The days of Governor Charlie McHighways StudeBaker vandalizing public transportation are clearly over. I don't know much else about Healey but cannot help but be impressed at the depth of change she is affecting by bringing in, not only Eng (who has made some impressive appointments under him) , but also Gina Fiandaca to be the Secretary of Transportation and Tom Glynn to be the Board of Directors Chair. Further, Eng is bringing in several of his NY and DC veterans - - he's not messing around. Particularly interesting (in this thread's context vis a vis the Haymarket Station garage demo and safety concerns/delays) is his appointment of Dennis Varley a few weeks ago to be the chief of each individual station safety and maintenance - - this guy is a well-respected veteran transpo enginneer, and will probably help immensely with the Haymarket station situation. Let's compare these people to the mix of folks Baker threw on during his administration. I'm guardedly optimistic.
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citydweller
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So I'm curious, what did Gov Baker do, or didn't do, so warrant such harsh criticism?
Suffolk 83
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He saddled the T with massive Big Dig debt that is still hampering it to this day.
He came on board in 2015, saw first hand how terrible the T was performing during that horrible winter, ran on fixing the T and look where we are now. He took the opportunity to privatize part of its workers (the red shirt completely useless people) and I think the cleaning crew, and pushed to fully privatize the rest of it but couldnt get it done. You could agree with his other policies and positions but his failure with the T and outright disdain for public transportation is hard to debate, its all right there in front of us all
citydweller
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Thanks for the response. I didn't realize that the Governor of the state has/had such an active roll in the operation of the T. I thought it would have been up to MassDOT management ,or lack of it, and other various transportation agencies. But ultimately, the buck would stop at his office.
Precisely. Who appoints the Secretary of Transportation who runs MassDOT?????? Who appoints the Board of Directors at the MBTA? I can tell you that Maura Healey just appointed the excellent Tom Glynn to be the BOD Chair. On the other hand, in the 6th year of his administration (can't blame that on any predecessor) StudeBaker left the board with an empty 3 month gap in 2021 before throwing in the names of some hacks to resume the work. That is astonishing malpractice. And that's just ONE instance of the StudeBaker administration. I am greatly optimistic that although it will take a few years to turn this large ship around, people like Eng, Glynn, Varley, etc. are the Best and the Brightest available to do it and aren't just hacks filling seats.
Baker names slate of MBTA board members
The panel will be chaired by Betsy Taylor, a six-year veteran of the state Department of Transportation Board of Directors.
www.wbur.org
Bringing it back to the relevance of THIS thread, for the above reason (and many others I could site) Rep. Michlewitz' optimism regarding the change in outlook for the Haymarket Garage demo is clearly well-founded. Look up James Watt, Reagan's Secretary of the Interior in the 1980's. THAT is what Charlie Baker was to the MBTA.
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Suffolk 83
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Precisely. Guess who appoints the Secretary of Transportation who runs MassDOT?????? Who appoints the Board of Directors at the MBTA? I can tell you that Maura Healey just appointed the excellent Tom Glynn to be the BOD Chair. On the other hand, in the 6th year of his administration (can't blame that on any predecessor) StudeBaker left the board with an empty 3 month gap in 2021 before throwing in the names of some hacks to resume the work. C'mon Citydweller, that is astonishing malpractice. And that's just ONE instance of the StudeBaker administration. I am greatly optimistic that although it will take a few years to turn this large ship around, people like Eng, Glynn, Varley, etc. are the Best and the Brightest available to do it and aren't just hacks filling seats.
Baker names slate of MBTA board members
The panel will be chaired by Betsy Taylor, a six-year veteran of the state Department of Transportation Board of Directors.
Bringing it back to the relevance of THIS thread, for the above reason (and many others I could site) Rep. Michlewitz' optimism regarding the change in outlook for the Haymarket Garage demo is clearly well-founded. Look up James Watt, Reagan's Secretary of the Interior in the 1980's. THAT is what Charlie Baker was to the MBTA.
We dont need to be ostentatious and inflammatory about it, then it just seems like you just have a political ax to grind. The facts are undeniable
......and then, of course, right on cue - Murphy's Law, this just happened a few minutes ago
That Bratton no-bid contract probably bit. No matter how competent, ya gotta still follow compliant procedures, etc.
Mass. transportation secretary will step down fewer than eight months after she started. Why? - The Boston Globe
Gina Fiandaca is the first member of Governor Maura Healey’s Cabinet to announce her departure, after one of the shortest tenures for a Cabinet secretary in recent memory.
www.bostonglobe.com
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Nothing to do with the man's politics - - generally I thought he was pretty good. Particularly though, he had an antipathy to public transportation and he conducted his transpo policy as such. His 8 years were a disaster for the T and his appointments showed his lack of interest.
It ain't political. It's transportational.
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