Crazy Highway Pitches

[DominusNovus]

Does anyone know of any information on any efforts to widen rte 3 south? There's an old thread on it that hasn't been touched in a decade:

Route 3 Widening

Ex-transportation official pitches plan for private companies to widen Route 3 south, recoup costs with tolls The former state official who championed the public-private coalition that widened Route 3 north of Boston a decade ago is proposing a new partnership south of the city to widen Route...

archboston.com

I thought for sure there would be something connected to the canal bridge project, but nothing that I found, either.

I think a general scheme of "widen rte 3 from 4 lanes to 6, while ditching the breakdown lane travel" would make a lot of sense, particularly given how wide the median is for most of rte 3. If there were any particular commuter rail or redline improvements that could be done at the same time, in conjunction with this, I think that would make it more palatable for any transit advocates who are opposed to highway widening in principle.

 

[themissinglink]

Does anyone know of any information on any efforts to widen rte 3 south? There's an old thread on it that hasn't been touched in a decade:

Route 3 Widening

Ex-transportation official pitches plan for private companies to widen Route 3 south, recoup costs with tolls The former state official who championed the public-private coalition that widened Route 3 north of Boston a decade ago is proposing a new partnership south of the city to widen Route...

archboston.com

I thought for sure there would be something connected to the canal bridge project, but nothing that I found, either.

I think a general scheme of "widen rte 3 from 4 lanes to 6, while ditching the breakdown lane travel" would make a lot of sense, particularly given how wide the median is for most of rte 3. If there were any particular commuter rail or redline improvements that could be done at the same time, in conjunction with this, I think that would make it more palatable for any transit advocates who are opposed to highway widening in principle.

The best chance of it happening was decades ago, I kinda doubt it will ever happen. Even the most recent attempt (2012) was a long shot; they probably would've had to do it in the '90s or early aughts if they seriously wanted to get it done. Instead, we should spend money on double-tracking the Old Colony mainline through Dorchester and Quincy, with some new double-tracking on the branches.

IIRC, Mitt Romney canceled plans for widening Route 3 in 2003 or 2004. Is anyone able to confirm this? I looked for a source online but I wasn't able to locate one.

 

[OldColony]

Does anyone know of any information on any efforts to widen rte 3 south? There's an old thread on it that hasn't been touched in a decade:

Route 3 Widening

Ex-transportation official pitches plan for private companies to widen Route 3 south, recoup costs with tolls The former state official who championed the public-private coalition that widened Route 3 north of Boston a decade ago is proposing a new partnership south of the city to widen Route...

archboston.com

I thought for sure there would be something connected to the canal bridge project, but nothing that I found, either.

I think a general scheme of "widen rte 3 from 4 lanes to 6, while ditching the breakdown lane travel" would make a lot of sense, particularly given how wide the median is for most of rte 3. If there were any particular commuter rail or redline improvements that could be done at the same time, in conjunction with this, I think that would make it more palatable for any transit advocates who are opposed to highway widening in principle.

Umm, where would the traffic go after crossing the canal? U.S. Route 6 (the Mid-Cape Highway) east of Sagamore is a two-lane parkway, with no breakdown lanes and poorly designed (by interstate standards) interchanges down to Route 132.

I can think of many much better transportation projects to spend limited dollars on than widening Route 3 from Weymouth to Sagamore. To name just a couple, replacing the I-93/I-95 interchanges in Reading and Canton (highways), and double-tracking the Old Colony mainline through Dorchester and Quincy (public transit).

 

[bigeman312]

Umm, where would the traffic go after crossing the canal? U.S. Route 6 (the Mid-Cape Highway) east of Sagamore is a two-lane parkway, with no breakdown lanes and poorly designed (by interstate standards) interchanges down to Route 132.

I can think of many much better transportation projects to spend limited dollars on than widening Route 3 from Weymouth to Sagamore. To name just a couple, replacing the I-93/I-95 interchanges in Reading and Canton (highways), and double-tracking the Old Colony mainline through Dorchester and Quincy (public transit).

The Old Colony Double Track Project should be #1 on the list of any project increasing the capacity of moving human beings between the Boston area and Southeastern Mass.