Bulfinch Crossing | Congress Street Garage | West End

What happens now that the garage is gone? Is there likely to be a long wait before work begins on the second residential tower? Are further approvals or financing necessary?
 
NHMaples said:
What happens now that the garage is gone? Is there likely to be a long wait before work begins on the second residential tower? Are further approvals or financing necessary?
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There hasn’t been any word on this from the principal (HYM) as far as I know.
 
When will the Haymarket busway be open for buses to use again?

The Haymarket busway has been closed for almost 3 years, since it was back in 2021 they closed it for garage demolition and replaced with a temporary bus stop.

The current temporary bus stop is a extra block further into downtown, which is a few extra minutes of runtime for all the buses that need to get in and out of downtown as fast as possible (which hurts frequencies). From North Washington Street down to Hanover Street is chock full of horrible traffic congestion for the buses, even with bus lanes covering part-way (They only go as far as Surface Rd./Haymarket busway, outbound after the 93N on ramp).

If they could cut the 111, 92, and 93 buses back to original Haymarket busway, instead of the current Hanover St. for the 111 (-1 block) and Milk St. for the 92/93 buses (-.5 miles, 2,800 ft, 1.1km), that would be a boost of reliability for the buses, and a huge frequency increase for the 92 and 93 buses.

(Also I have a crazy transit pitch that all the Haymarket buses should terminate at North Station & Haverhill St., which would be an instant one seat ride, directly to all the northside Commuter Rail lines, and shorten the unreliable downtown leg of the 92/93/111 buses even more).
 
Delvin4519 said:
(Also I have a crazy transit pitch that all the Haymarket buses should terminate at North Station & Haverhill St., which would be an instant one seat ride, directly to all the northside Commuter Rail lines, and shorten the unreliable downtown leg of the 92/93/111 buses even more).
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why is haymarket the terminus, anyway? Is it because it allows more of the downtown population to walk to the origin station?
 
FK4 said:
why is haymarket the terminus, anyway? Is it because it allows more of the downtown population to walk to the origin station?
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Historically, Haymarket Square was a pretty big bus hub before the Blue Line got extended beyond Maverick Station to Revere in the early 1950s. The Eastern Mass Street Railway ran a major bus route from Haymarket Sq through Sumner Tunnel up to Revere and Lynn, with bus connections beyond. Also, Haymarket Square was right near the portal of Sumner Tunnel and on the Green and Orange Lines.
Here's a map of the system with the large bus terminal at Haymarket Square. I remember seeing the Eastern Mass Street Railway busses still running before the MBTA was formed in the 1960s.
I agree it would make sense to extend today's bus lines to North Station to offer direct transfers to/from commuter rail.
 
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Charlie_mta said:
...I agree it would make sense to extend today's bus lines to North Station to offer direct transfers to/from commuter rail.
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Except that there is not much space in/near North Station for a major bus operation. How about, instead, they simply proceed with the long-overdue idea of permanently closing Canal St. to cars to solidify that as a more comfortable pedestrian route. They could, a la Kenmore Sq., put a pedestrian head house and short underground connection beneath New Chardron st. to the new "bus island" at Haymarket, but hey, I'd be more than thrilled with just a permanent pedestrian-ification of Canal St.
 
bigpicture7 said:
Except that there is not much space in/near North Station for a major bus operation. How about, instead, they simply proceed with the long-overdue idea of permanently closing Canal St. to cars to solidify that as a more comfortable pedestrian route. They could, a la Kenmore Sq., put a pedestrian head house and short underground connection beneath New Chardron st. to the new "bus island" at Haymarket, but hey, I'd be more than thrilled with just a permanent pedestrian-ification of Canal St.
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PREAAAACH! Pedestrianizing that street is such low-hanging fruit that would significantly enhance the entire area. Very disappointing that it didn't happen years ago in conjunction with the development boom there.
 
Charlie_mta said:
Historically, Haymarket Square was a pretty big bus hub before the Blue Line got extended beyond Maverick Station to Revere in the early 1950s. The Eastern Mass Street Railway ran a major bus route from Haymarket Sq through Sumner Tunnel up to Revere and Lynn, with bus connections beyond. Also, Haymarket Square was right near the portal of Sumner Tunnel and on the Green and Orange Lines.
Here's a map of the system with the large bus terminal at Haymarket Square. I remember seeing the Eastern Mass Street Railway busses still running before the MBTA was formed in the 1960s.
I agree it would make sense to extend today's bus lines to North Station to offer direct transfers to/from commuter rail.
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Great info as always. Thats also a great map, Ive seen a lot over the years but never this one.

You should write up your memories of pre-renewal Boston, dude. Just short reminiscences. I bet you could even make it into a small book.


bigpicture7 said:
Except that there is not much space in/near North Station for a major bus operation. How about, instead, they simply proceed with the long-overdue idea of permanently closing Canal St. to cars to solidify that as a more comfortable pedestrian route. They could, a la Kenmore Sq., put a pedestrian head house and short underground connection beneath New Chardron st. to the new "bus island" at Haymarket, but hey, I'd be more than thrilled with just a permanent pedestrian-ification of Canal St.
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Could just have a pedestrian tunnel linking Haymarket and North Station. Not sure that would fill any major needs, but Ithe benefits of linking stations underground is often overlooked--people "feel" that distance is less when they "feel" like tow stations are just one big one.
 
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FK4 said:
Great info as always. Thats also a great map, Ive seen a lot over the years but never this one.

You should write up your memories of pre-renewal Boston, dude. Just short reminiscences. I bet you could even make it into a small book.
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The one transit line I wished I had ridden before it closed was the Eastern Mass Street Railway trolley line from Sullivan Square through the Middlesex Fells Reservation to Stoneham. It closed in 1957 when I was 7 years old, and I remember seeing the newspaper article at the time about the last trolley car run. If it had closed just 5 years later I definitely would have been able to ride on it. I have a lot of nostalgia for the Eastern Mass Street Railway, as well as the Middlesex and Boston Street Railway, Just childhood memories of riding my bike round Medford and Arlington when I was in grade school and seeing these busses. Great memories. But I stay active and am working part time as a civil engineer, so I'm still hangin' in there.
 
Sunday 4/7. Garage is flattened and space is cleared out. Some big updates from HYM soon?
 

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22 months after the original proposed end date for the 6 week Congress St closure to bus traffic (and pollution emitting private metal boxes as well), Congress Street is still closed to bus traffic 22 months later.

Seems kinda silly to have buses duplicate rapid transit between Haymarket and DTX given the traffic monstrosity downtown, it only hurts bus headways, and this 6 week closure to bus traffic extending out to 2 years, only adds fuel to the fire.

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NHMaples said:
What happens now that the garage is gone? Is there likely to be a long wait before work begins on the second residential tower? Are further approvals or financing necessary?
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Hopefully theyll at least button up the front portion of the garage for now.

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From the construction sequence video though this part appears to be connected to the 2nd residential tower so its unlikely.


Too bad they couldnt build the first few floors of the res 2 tower along with the residential portion in front of the garage and then cap it there until the next phase can start. It would be like what they did at the hub on causeway. That way ground level would be finished and then theyd just have to build the tower portion above the podium when ready.
 
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Suffolk 83 said:
How the hell have they not reopened congress street? Ridiculous
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Is there literally no update on when buses can once again use Congress St?

There's no bus lanes on Surface Rd. or North St., so as such the traffic congestion there is horrendously terrible.

If it's not reopening anytime soon, they should just send the buses down Hanover to Congress and loop back outbound.
 
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