Cambridge Crossing (NorthPoint) | East Cambridge/Charlestown | Cambridge/Boston

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Took this photo last week, but I'm not sure what it means. I saw two trucks with drill rigs and a backhoe on the Archstone Phase II lot. They were located next to Glass Works Ave., so I don't think it has anything to do with the Green Line extension. Has anyone heard that Archstone is going forward with Phase II?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beelinebos/6863467547/in/photostream
Justin7 said:
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Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

One of the maintenance guys at Northpoint asked them why they were there and they said that they worked for the MBTA. I thought it was Archstone at first too. I'd rather it be Archstone at this point because that would mean at least something was going to be done in the near future.
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Thanks. Agree Archstone seems to get things done while most others spin a great tale.
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Will there be a pedestrian connection to Community College? Perhaps just a stairway leading to the sidewalk on the Gilmore Bridge?
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Yes, there will be, or so we've been told. the next building to get built is an apt building near the bridge of the north side of park. The plan is to have a main stair case from the bridge right near or attached to (not sure which) this new apt building. Also the *best* case scenario has them breaking ground this fall as they're pretty far along with designing.
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

whighlander said:
F-Line -- the O'Brien is not going to shrink anytime soon -- the traffic is bad enough as it is already
However, once you get down off the elevated section the traffic slows as there are lights and so cross walks do work
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28's an induced demand trap from hell. There is no reason why it has to be 6 lanes from Lechmere Sq. to the McGrath overpass. It's 4 from Memorial Dr. to Leverett Circle, and 4 on the McGrath overpass until the ramps and overpass merge. 6 lanes is fine for the 1-block Cambridge St.-to-Memorial concurrency where the lights are timed so nobody's going too fast, but west of Lechmere traffic barrels at 50 MPH because of the extra travel lanes. That makes the backups to Leverett worse when that high-speed half of the road slams to a screeching halt at the slow-going Cambridge St.-Memorial-Leverett lights. Textbook induced demand bad road design.

I used to walk home that way when I lived in East Somerville. This is not a pleasant walk at all. Sidewalk isn't wide enough around light poles, signs, and fire hydrants for 2 people to pass each other, you're inches away from screaming traffic without the breakdown lane, and you get coated with sand and crap and splashed with water when the road's wet. The bridge is barely better. Not much more than single-file, and you have to turn to the side if somebody's coming by with a stroller or shopping cart.

Put in a lane drop after the McGrath ramps merge at the bridge. 2 lanes, bike-striped shoulder, widened sidewalk from the bridge to Lechmere Sq., tactile crosswalks. That additionally improves traffic flow the length of O'Brien thru Leverett with a consistent 4-lanes to 4-lanes on either side of the 1-block Cambridge St.-Memorial Dr. concurrency.

It's very short walking distance. It needs to be much less daunting walking distance. That's a quick fix if they care to do it. Status quo consigns Lechmere and Brickbottom/Cobble Hill and Northpoint/Twin Cities Plaza to remaining a functional 10 miles apart.
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

OH, god, I've done that walk. I think once even with a g.damn bookcase I bought at the Caldor's that used to be in there. (Or, was that on the other side of the bridge?)
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

F-Line to Dudley said:
28's an induced demand trap from hell. There is no reason why it has to be 6 lanes from Lechmere Sq. to the McGrath overpass. It's 4 from Memorial Dr. to Leverett Circle, and 4 on the McGrath overpass until the ramps and overpass merge. 6 lanes is fine for the 1-block Cambridge St.-to-Memorial concurrency where the lights are timed so nobody's going too fast, but west of Lechmere traffic barrels at 50 MPH because of the extra travel lanes. That makes the backups to Leverett worse when that high-speed half of the road slams to a screeching halt at the slow-going Cambridge St.-Memorial-Leverett lights. Textbook induced demand bad road design.

I used to walk home that way when I lived in East Somerville. This is not a pleasant walk at all. Sidewalk isn't wide enough around light poles, signs, and fire hydrants for 2 people to pass each other, you're inches away from screaming traffic without the breakdown lane, and you get coated with sand and crap and splashed with water when the road's wet. The bridge is barely better. Not much more than single-file, and you have to turn to the side if somebody's coming by with a stroller or shopping cart.

Put in a lane drop after the McGrath ramps merge at the bridge. 2 lanes, bike-striped shoulder, widened sidewalk from the bridge to Lechmere Sq., tactile crosswalks. That additionally improves traffic flow the length of O'Brien thru Leverett with a consistent 4-lanes to 4-lanes on either side of the 1-block Cambridge St.-Memorial Dr. concurrency.

It's very short walking distance. It needs to be much less daunting walking distance. That's a quick fix if they care to do it. Status quo consigns Lechmere and Brickbottom/Cobble Hill and Northpoint/Twin Cities Plaza to remaining a functional 10 miles apart.
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F-Line -- your getting obsessive -- drive that piece of Obrien + cambridge st. tight at the old Prison Point Bridge at rush hour and you'll realize that the road isn't wide enough

By the way you don't mean Memorial Drive -- you mean Cambridge St on one end of the srip and Cambridge Parkway on the other by the canal to the Charles

Also note that Obrien when it passes the MOS is 6 lanes to allow left turns at the MOS and the right to the ramp to Storrow Dr. (ok technically embankment road) after the Cragie Drawbridge

No the solution is to have wider sidewalks -- unfortunately the older buildings are not set back very much
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

whighlander said:
the road isn't wide enough
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What!


The problem is that Rt 28 maintains it's width once it enters Somerville and passes I-93. Thru traffic should be encouraged to move onto 93, with 28 being the size of Cambridge St, from 93 to Lechmere. In conjunction with the GLX and massive rethinking of Somerville-area bus routes, this could certainly be worked out.
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Route 28 here (and from here to the Mystic River) should be reduced to the scale that it has north of Wellington Circle, in Medford and Malden. In those cities, it is a pleasant tree-lined divided four-lane road, easily crossed by pedestrians at every intersection.
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

BostonUrbEx said:
What!


The problem is that Rt 28 maintains it's width once it enters Somerville and passes I-93. Thru traffic should be encouraged to move onto 93, with 28 being the size of Cambridge St, from 93 to Lechmere. In conjunction with the GLX and massive rethinking of Somerville-area bus routes, this could certainly be worked out.
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This is exactly it. Years ago I used to always bypass the last section of 93 coming into the city, by switching to 28. This is no longer necessary, because the backup on 93 south is greatly improved. 28 can now and definitely should be scaled back. People choose it because it's available, not because it's a necessity.

Heading northward, the extra lanes simply serve as car storage for people wanting to pass through the city an up to the Northern suburbs. Why should people who live in the area have to suffer on their behalf? That is indeed one of the worst places for walking and is also quite dangerous. Four lanes + bike lanes + wide sidewalks would be perfect for this location.
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Ron Newman said:
Route 28 here (and from here to the Mystic River) should be reduced to the scale that it has north of Wellington Circle, in Medford and Malden. In those cities, it is a pleasant tree-lined divided four-lane road, easily crossed by pedestrians at every intersection.
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Ron -- that's a One-size-fits-all model -- this is a fundamental logic falacy -- e.g. -- there is a place in Northern Minesotta where one can easily ford the Mississippi River without getting your lederhosen wet -- therefore you can ford the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge without having to swim

Rt-28 up in Medford and Malden is definitely a secondary route through a mostly residential area -- such is not the case as the road passes though Sommmerville and Cambridge -- in the stretch from Broadway to Cambridge St. - a closer model is Rt-1 in the area near to Square One Mall in Saugus or alternatively Rt-1 after crossing Rt-128 at the Dedham / Boston border area

No amount of wishful thinking is going to divert the comuters using Broadway or Medford St & Highland Ave. to connect via McGrath/Obrien highway from Rt-2 at Alewife to Boston by the MOS

I "commute to the MOS" where I volunteer on Sunday afternoons -- I come down Rt-2 from Lexington and while there is minimal traffic at noon on Sunday I'm still faced wih the dilema of the NW commuter:

Since it was decided not to build the Inner Belt -- the people comming from the NW via Rt-2 have to go either to:
1) the R and use Alewife / Freshpond to Mem Drive or Storrow Dr. -- can bottle neck at the rotaries
2) to the Left on Alewife to Mass Ave -- middlle of cambridge traffic
3) to the Left on Alewife to Broadway with the choice of Broadway or the slightly more effecient Medford St / Highland Ave.
4) to the left on Alewife and Rt-16 to eventualy get to i-93 -- very round-about

sorry -- but as a result a significant amount of the traffic will end-up on OBrien

the above will not go away even with the Green Line extending to Tufts and if the Northpoint development includes significant Lab space -- the above witll just get worse with more traffic coming via OBrien -- hence the need to keep it as wide as possible
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

HenryAlan said:
This is exactly it. Years ago I used to always bypass the last section of 93 coming into the city, by switching to 28. This is no longer necessary, because the backup on 93 south is greatly improved. 28 can now and definitely should be scaled back. People choose it because it's available, not because it's a necessity.

Heading northward, the extra lanes simply serve as car storage for people wanting to pass through the city an up to the Northern suburbs. Why should people who live in the area have to suffer on their behalf? That is indeed one of the worst places for walking and is also quite dangerous. Four lanes + bike lanes + wide sidewalks would be perfect for this location.
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Henry -- see my previous post

People comming from Rt-2's "drainage' are not going to drive East on Rt-128 to get to I-93 so that they can go South

They will stay on Rt-2 and then face at Alewife they face the dilema of Left or Right the left branch includes a significant component that ends-up of Rt-28 (aka the McGrath OBrien Highway)
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

whighlander said:
Ron -- that's a One-size-fits-all model -- this is a fundamental logic falacy -- e.g. -- there is a place in Northern Minesotta where one can easily ford the Mississippi River without getting your lederhosen wet -- therefore you can ford the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge without having to swim

Rt-28 up in Medford and Malden is definitely a secondary route through a mostly residential area -- such is not the case as the road passes though Sommmerville and Cambridge -- in the stretch from Broadway to Cambridge St. - a closer model is Rt-1 in the area near to Square One Mall in Saugus or alternatively Rt-1 after crossing Rt-128 at the Dedham / Boston border area

No amount of wishful thinking is going to divert the comuters using Broadway or Medford St & Highland Ave. to connect via McGrath/Obrien highway from Rt-2 at Alewife to Boston by the MOS

I "commute to the MOS" where I volunteer on Sunday afternoons -- I come down Rt-2 from Lexington and while there is minimal traffic at noon on Sunday I'm still faced wih the dilema of the NW commuter:

Since it was decided not to build the Inner Belt -- the people comming from the NW via Rt-2 have to go either to:
1) the R and use Alewife / Freshpond to Mem Drive or Storrow Dr. -- can bottle neck at the rotaries
2) to the Left on Alewife to Mass Ave -- middlle of cambridge traffic
3) to the Left on Alewife to Broadway with the choice of Broadway or the slightly more effecient Medford St / Highland Ave.
4) to the left on Alewife and Rt-16 to eventualy get to i-93 -- very round-about

sorry -- but as a result a significant amount of the traffic will end-up on OBrien

the above will not go away even with the Green Line extending to Tufts and if the Northpoint development includes significant Lab space -- the above witll just get worse with more traffic coming via OBrien -- hence the need to keep it as wide as possible
Click to expand...

Park, take the Red Line to Davis and then either the 87 or 88 to Lechmere :)

Anyway, traffic from Broadway can go to Sullivan Square and then take 99 to get into the city.
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

whighlander said:
Ron -- that's a One-size-fits-all model -- this is a fundamental logic falacy -- e.g. -- there is a place in Northern Minesotta where one can easily ford the Mississippi River without getting your lederhosen wet -- therefore you can ford the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge without having to swim

Rt-28 up in Medford and Malden is definitely a secondary route through a mostly residential area -- such is not the case as the road passes though Sommmerville and Cambridge -- in the stretch from Broadway to Cambridge St. - a closer model is Rt-1 in the area near to Square One Mall in Saugus or alternatively Rt-1 after crossing Rt-128 at the Dedham / Boston border area

No amount of wishful thinking is going to divert the comuters using Broadway or Medford St & Highland Ave. to connect via McGrath/Obrien highway from Rt-2 at Alewife to Boston by the MOS

I "commute to the MOS" where I volunteer on Sunday afternoons -- I come down Rt-2 from Lexington and while there is minimal traffic at noon on Sunday I'm still faced wih the dilema of the NW commuter:

Since it was decided not to build the Inner Belt -- the people comming from the NW via Rt-2 have to go either to:
1) the R and use Alewife / Freshpond to Mem Drive or Storrow Dr. -- can bottle neck at the rotaries
2) to the Left on Alewife to Mass Ave -- middlle of cambridge traffic
3) to the Left on Alewife to Broadway with the choice of Broadway or the slightly more effecient Medford St / Highland Ave.
4) to the left on Alewife and Rt-16 to eventualy get to i-93 -- very round-about

sorry -- but as a result a significant amount of the traffic will end-up on OBrien

the above will not go away even with the Green Line extending to Tufts and if the Northpoint development includes significant Lab space -- the above witll just get worse with more traffic coming via OBrien -- hence the need to keep it as wide as possible
Click to expand...

In other words...a pretty succinct and textbook explanation of why 28 is a poorly-designed induced demand trap.

O'Brien can't handle that traffic in the MOS vicinity. Traffic comes at it in every direction. Nothing can be done to make it better handle it. So what's the wisdom in maintaining a 6-lane high speed section grade-separated over 1.5 miles of residential area when all that facilitates is slamming headfirst into the brick wall? It encourages more people to take the high-speed section as a cut-over from 93 or in lieu of 93 because it moves faster "at" 93, but then they pay the price later when they hit Lechmere. If there's nowhere for the high-capacity section to distribute traffic except into a brick-wall bottleneck, and if the brick-wall bottleneck is unimprovable and set in stone, then the higher capacity segment is the greater source of problems.

This is directly observable standing in front of the Hampton Inn by Water St.. Look south, see cars backed up under the Green Line, past the station, getting backed up almost to Gore St. Look north, see them careening at highway speed off the McGrath overpass, revving back UP to 40+ MPH after the shopping center if that's a red, then hitting the brakes hard between 3rd and Gore. And watch the northbound traffic hit the afterburners when the 3rd St. light is green as the third travel lane picks up. Where's all that 6-lane traffic going except on a drag race to the next lane drop and traffic jam...or 93 where they could've gotten on downtown?


Going nowhere very fast to go real slow when you get there is an induced demand trap. And the least excusable induced demand traps are the ones +1 travel lanes too many to sustain the neighborhood, and -1 miles too short to make any difference in most commutes. Easy one. The southbound traffic will always back up almost to Gore St. in the afternoon. So don't give the drivers any expectation that it won't or reward them on the northbound trip for waiting out the jam with booster rockets on that extra travel lane picking up in front of the Inn. Do make this road more plausibly usable for the residents and workers who are supposed to make up this new neighborhood. And watch the traffic get not only not-worse, but a slight smidge better when the minority of numbnuts programmed from birth to "hate" 93 start taking the more direct way for them instead of the "shortcut" that's neither short nor cut but merely "not-93".


Not that different from the hand-wringing about the Sullivan Overpass 10 years ago and the traffic apocalypse that was to ensue when Assembly Square opened and no one from downtown or C-town could get there. Is anyone fearing the upcoming apocalypse of fewer thru travel lanes on 38? Anyone?
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

When this opens, crossing will be futile. I'll be standing over the tracks taking so many pictures of trains coming over the Charles River Draws that getting by will be impossible.
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

BostonUrbEx said:
When this opens, crossing will be futile. I'll be standing over the tracks taking so many pictures of trains coming over the Charles River Draws that getting by will be impossible.
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Ah, but when they stop weekend service we'll have a window of opportunity.
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Renderings and overview of the proposed residential 22 Water Street from the developer's website.

http://www.smma.com/project/planning/22-water-street
From view the renderings I'm pleasantly surprised with the boldness of the design, pop of color, and disguise of parking. Although I still feel that the atmosphere around this complex will be dead with the a Hampton Inn directly in front of it and a "park" behind it.

Looking at previous images of Northpoint it seemed like an elderly living community in Boca Raton, FL than a modern neighborhood for young professionals.http://cambridgeluxuryrealestate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/NorthPoint.jpg
 
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Not big on the blue color but I do think the design is bold.
 
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