Commonwealth Avenue Improvement Project

[commuter guy]

A german company by the name of Wall gets the exclusive right to erect and maintain these bus shelters throughout Boston on their own dime. In exchange they get to plaster the sides with ads and get to erect a few stand alone advertising panels.

 

[jass]

A german company by the name of Wall gets the exclusive right to erect and maintain these bus shelters throughout Boston on their own dime. In exchange they get to plaster the sides with ads and get to erect a few stand alone advertising panels.

My concern was on the parking meter directly in front of the bus stop, thus making parking legal there and very hard for a bus to pull up to the curb.


Also, are you sure the city pays nothing for these? That may explain the 4-5 erected on comm ave inbound, aka 3 stops before the 57 terminus, where no one will ever wait.

 

[BigE]

The bus shelters do look very European.

 

[czsz]

And they're actually shelters, unlike the new CEMUSA structures in NYC:

 

[jass]

After a very impressive week in which they dug around the MBTA tracks and out in dividers...absolutely no work has been done.

However, note the surprisingly mature tree that was planted last week (left). It started blooming yesterday. That must have cost alot.

In kenmore, looks like the sidewalks are being extended for safer crossings.

 

[kz1000ps]

Hooray for mature trees and sidewalk extensions!

 

[jass]

Inbound work

Inbound blandford street top is also getting expanded.

 

[bdurden]

Big improvement.



(Better than the Greenway, if you think about it.)

Now that it has all come together, I have to agreed 100%. This is Boston's best streetscaping project in recent memory.

 

[PaulC]

BU says campus future is up in the air

From today(5/1/2008) student newspaper:
http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com....Campus.Future.Is.Up.In.The.Air-3361027.shtml

I think this quote is important and BU would not have an 'agenda' on this point:

When BU put forth a rough idea for air rights development in its 1986 master plan, planners noted that university development -- often academic and residential buildings, rather than commercial spaces -- generally does "not generate sufficient cash flow to make development of air rights feasible" at the time.

Air rights projects typically require deck construction above the roadway, Hines said. Buildings are constructed atop these decks. Air rights construction involves more steel than typical projects for stability and safety. Lighting and ventilation must be installed underneath the deck if it is long enough to prevent adequate sunlight exposure for traffic beneath.

also interesting:

BU's short-term projects include completing the third phase of Student Village development and renovating Myles Standish Hall, "the [dorm] most in need," Brown said. The school additionally plans to build a major undergraduate classroom building on the old Burger King parking lot across from Warren Towers, but programming has not commenced and the project will require significant fundraising, Brown said.

If there is a better thread please post this there

 

[kz1000ps]

sidewalk expansion at BU Central

Blandford

 

[bdurden]

When this is all said and done, new BU students will never be able to fathom how ugly it was beforehand.

 

[jass]

 

[bdurden]

Silber Way:

Tree-lined median.

Looking good...

 

[BarbaricManchurian]

Really starting to shape up! Looks way better than just a few weeks ago.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

That is gonna be a nice stretch in 10-20 years time.

 

[jass]

The first image is disappointing; I thought that was going to be a sidewalk which extended to the uturn.

The "Silber way" thing is lame. Now the street has 3 names, as it's also the extension of blandford street.

 

[kz1000ps]

The first image is disappointing;

I don't see how a three foot wide sidewalk sandwiched between a concrete wall and a three lane highway would have been useful.

 

[saulblum]

I don't see how a three foot wide sidewalk sandwiched between a concrete wall and a three lane highway would have been useful.

The strip beside the wall next to the Green Line ramp used to be a sidewalk, before it was torn up and trees planted this week. It actually was useful: I live in the building at the left side of the first pic and it was useful as a shortcut for walking from the U-Turn to the building and from the building to the Blanford St stop, if Comm Ave was clear to cross.

 

[jass]

I don't see how a three foot wide sidewalk sandwiched between a concrete wall and a three lane highway would have been useful.

Before the trees, I saw people using it all the time. During red soz games, it would have been extra useful, as people use the u-turn to cross comm ave (no sidewalk) and then walk along the wall to the outbound sttaion.

 

[kz1000ps]

Hmm, I didn't imagine people being so resourceful with such a narrow strip of concrete, but I stand corrected.