f line since you seem to have your ear to the ground on these things, is there any plan at any level of govt to deck over any more track, anywhere? i juts dont get why this never comes up on any of the many projects going up along the tracks...
I don't know. Certainly if all you're doing is putting a park over it the decking doesn't have to be anything that supports much in the way of heavy loads a la the Pike decking. That brings down the price considerably. Just need enough weight support for the layers of dirt deep enough to support plantings. None of the existing SW Corridor cover-overs, both the contiguous section northeast of Mass Ave. or the small intermittent cover-overs to the south have anything in the way of park structures built on top other than the occasional basketball or tennis court.
For the Urkraine Way block it would be so close to the portal it wouldn't need anything in the way of those squat raised ventilation grates present at regular intervals on all other cover-overs >1 block.
Any segments where the cut's retaining walls stay above the level of the NEC catenary towers is fair game for decking if you're imaging anything resembling a contiguous Emerald Necklace type thing eventually getting constructed to downtown to widen out the linear park. That means you can go as far south as roughly Walk Hill St., which is handy for reaching the cemeteries and Arboretum if they reopened the Needham Line ped underpass at Arboretum Rd.
South of there the NEC is in its original pre-SW Corridor cut and not nearly deep enough to do any more decking into Hyde Park...just widening of some overpasses for sidewalks and/or grassy knolls.
North of FH there'd be some topping-off to do of the retaining wall to get up to the level of the current security fence on top of it. That's how all current decking was done. Quick scan looks like *minor* retaining wall topping needed:
-- FH to McBride St.
(existing cover-over to Williams St.)
-- only 100 ft. or so past Williams. Green St. station area it's already tall enough.
(Green St. station OK since current outdoor shelter would come down. Headhouse already on decking.)
-- Gordon St. to existing park decking
(existing decking near New Minton St.)
-- New Minton St. for couple hundred feet.
(Stony Brook station decked)
-- Stony Brook to Atherton St. has a mostly tall wall. Grassy knoll on the Atherton overpass.
-- Atherton to Jackson Sq. station: mostly tall wall.
(Jackson Sq. station decked)
-- Heath St. to Cedar St. needs taller wall on Terrace St. side. Park side is fine.
-- Cedar to Rox Crossing station: Taller wall on Terrace St. side, Orange Line outdoor shelter comes down.
(Rox Crossing headhouse decked)
-- Rox Crossing to Prentiss St.: Terrace St.-side wall only.
(Prentiss to Ruggles St. decked)
(Ruggles station not decked, but probably shouldn't be because of tall structures, busway, diesel trains making stops and idling)
-- Wall already tall from Ruggles to Columbus Parking Garage
(NEC/Orange Line emergency access driveways...cut must remain open)
-- Camden St. to Mass Ave.: Outdoor station shelter would come down.
(Mass Ave. to Back Bay decked)
Back Bay to Albany St. would be part of the Pike decking.
So...if you just start chipping away at it block-by-block the entire thing is eventually coverable as a linear park from BBY all the way to the Arboretum. Plus whatever plaza-style accessibility they do on the Pike air rights to Albany St. You would still need the vent stacks even if Providence Line went electric because Needham, Franklin, and Stoughton will still be diesel. But you don't get much in the way of fumes at any of the other vents because trains are all running at-speed.
The "Second Emerald Necklace" (well...sans water). With connections to the first Emerald Necklace. They should totally strive for that eventually since the price isn't too bad. Not high-priority or anything, but they designed the cut
exactly for this purpose.
