Crazy Highway Pitches

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Yep. With the exception of building C and a sliver of a park near P it still works. And by moving Day Blvd, there's even more space for development and parks!
I'd like someone with cash to rethink the Corcoran Building just to make more life happen there. Those surface parking lot requirements are awful, arbitrarily assigned relics from a non-scientific formula in a dated code manual from 1946.
Big thing in mine was I deleted the State Police barracks and their almost always empty overflow parking lot on the SE corner of the rotary - unused relics. They go under the highway (there's room, it makes sense) or they can go over to one of the many secret spots they have at the airport. Parks and people first.

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BeyondRevenue said:
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Yep. With the exception of building C and a sliver of a park near P it still works. And by moving Day Blvd, there's even more space for development and parks!
I'd like someone with cash to rethink the Corcoran Building just to make more life happen there. Those surface parking lot requirements are awful, arbitrarily assigned relics from a non-scientific formula in a dated code manual from 1946.
Big thing in mine was I deleted the State Police barracks and their almost always empty overflow parking lot on the SE corner of the rotary - unused relics. They go under the highway (there's room, it makes sense) or they can go over to one of the many secret spots they have at the airport. Parks and people first.

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I love the SPUI and as someone that lives about a 1/2 mile from this cluster****, I despise interchange 14 (old 15) and wonder why this hasn't been implemented by MassDOT.

One challenge to the plan east of the interchange that I want to point out is the grade separation. With both Columbia Rd and Morrissey bridged above the MBTA tracks and Mt Vernon Road respectively, K circle currently sits about 15 ft or so above the surrounding streetscape. I don't think you can lower Morrisey fast enough out of that circle as drawn to accommodate the new T intersection at "parcel P"/ across the street from Hub25 Apts (which are both currently served essentially by frontage roads).

I feel like options and design bandwidth requirements could *possibly* be eased if we could move the northbound side of interchange 14 (both on and off) southward near the old Globe building, ideally hitting Morrisey across from the UMass campus entrance to convert that to a four-way intersection
 
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Scalziand said:
Extending BeyondRevenues's plan to the 2 circle alternative by lining up William Day Blvd and Mt Vernon in a second circle to the east connected by an extension of Columbia Rd. Day and Vernon should pair up well because they are both local roads. Moving Mt Vernon like this should also make it much easier to develop the section of the site nearest to JFK station.
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Gah! Are we trying to fix a bad situation or make it worse? My main point is/was that Day Blvd is not a highway and should not have been attached to the rotary in the first place. Seems like Pre-93 thinking.
If there would have been a second rotary I would have put it at 93 and Columbia. No room, but there is room for a SPUI.

More housing and daily use services, less highway style. This is not Las Vegas and sprawl should not be done there.

If you or someone you know are addicted to highway construction, please call us at 312.551.7300 and we'll talk you out of your next multi-million dollar spending binge.
#notamemember
 
cburns said:
I love the SPUI and as someone that lives about a 1/2 mile from this cluster****, I despise interchange 14 (old 15) and wonder why this hasn't been implemented by MassDOT.

One challenge to the plan east of the interchange that I want to point out is the grade separation. With both Columbia Rd and Morrissey bridged above the MBTA tracks and Mt Vernon Road respectively, K circle currently sits about 15 ft or so above the surrounding streetscape. I don't think you can lower Morrisey fast enough out of that circle as drawn to accommodate the new T intersection at "parcel P"/ across the street from Hub25 Apts (which are both currently served essentially by frontage roads).

I feel like options and design bandwidth requirements could *possibly* be eased if we could move the northbound side of interchange 14 (both on and off) southward near the old Globe building, ideally hitting Morrisey across from the UMass campus entrance to convert that to a four-way intersection
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Okay, good catch cburns. I had completely ignored the Mt. Vernon underpass and the 15 foot rise on the south. I was so happy to send the Troopers packing that I forgot it was there.
So I went into God Mode, expanded the map a bit, and I now declare the old NW-SE running Mt. V. underpass is only for busses, bikes and pedestrians. Bonus, this eliminates the need for the second head house since most of the pedestrians are going to arrive via free BRT in dedicated lanes from the new neighborhood and UMass. I have deemed it thus in my sweeping edict as the Omnipotent Ruler of TKC!
The bus SB turnarounds are going to be just below the old pedestrian overpass, which I removed since the intersections are half as wide now and the Mt.Vernon street underpass does the same thing.
Also, I am making everybody put up a green buffer to Morrissey Blvd. Sorry, I'm God. Don't do it and I will smite you.

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vanshnookenraggen said:
Uh...why?
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What do you mean? “Why?” It cuts a few minutes off of travel time for folks going up rafting on the Kennebec (as well as for those who are going up to Quèbèc).

Ideally I’d construct the Pine Tree State Parkway between Waterville and the border to connect up with the eventual completion of l’autoroute 73. But that seems like a long shot that would result in NIMBY battles for decades. This is called compromise.

French MF’s gotta get back from Maine to Lèvis in decent time also.
 
kingofsheeba said:
What do you mean? “Why?” It cuts a few minutes off of travel time for folks going up rafting on the Kennebec (as well as for those who are going up to Quèbèc).
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You're literally in the middle of no where and you are worried about a "few minutes"? Not to mention, that's a few minutes for a few dozen millions.
 
kingofsheeba said:
What do you mean? “Why?” It cuts a few minutes off of travel time for folks going up rafting on the Kennebec (as well as for those who are going up to Quèbèc).

Ideally I’d construct the Pine Tree State Parkway between Waterville and the border to connect up with the eventual completion of l’autoroute 73. But that seems like a long shot that would result in NIMBY battles for decades. This is called compromise.

French MF’s gotta get back from Maine to Lèvis in decent time also.
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One problem I have with highway developments like this in general is that they encourage suburban sprawl; i.e., single family house subdivisions, shopping centers with large parking lots, etc. Strict zoning would hopefully control that, but money talks and zoning is often pretty weak in that regard,
 
kingofsheeba said:
No. THIS is crazy.

New Hampshire: Spaulding Turnpike North Extension (NH/ME Border)
Maine: Can-Am Connector
Quèbèc: Rerouted L’Autoroute 73 Extension
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It looks like your route would traverse some steep terrain across the mountain range near Mt. Washington. Also, not a lot of sizeable towns served by the route. I would recommend shifting it east so that it takes off from I-95 at Waterville, ME (about where the I-95 symbol is on your map north of Augusta), and then follows the US-201 corridor up to Canada. It would serve some towns and cross easier terrain.
 
Charlie_mta said:
It looks like your route would traverse some steep terrain across the mountain range near Mt. Washington. Also, not a lot of sizeable towns served by the route. I would recommend shifting it east so that it takes off from I-95 at Waterville, ME (about where the I-95 symbol is on your map north of Augusta), and then follows the US-201 corridor up to Canada. It would serve some towns and cross easier terrain.
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Okay :)

But what if the people in The Forks protest? Then my proposal is shot.

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I present to you…

C06480AE-D64E-494B-BCC1-3FAD40A85F80.jpeg


Interstate 92

Eastern Terminus: Jackson, Maine Border Crossing (A-73)

Western Terminus: Tobin Bridge: Boston, Massachusetts (Rt. 1 Upgraded and buried underground a la Tip O’ Neill Tunnel)

The I-93 stretch North of Boston would be buried from Saugus to Peabody. Would run concurrent with I-95 from Peabody to Portsmouth.

E: I-92/ N: I-95
W: I-92: S: I-95

The northeastern extension would run from the White Mountains all the lib long way east to Jackson. With few exists and lots of room for rest areas.

I could even create my own cities up there, but better than in Sims.



👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽????
 
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kingofsheeba said:
Okay :)

But what if the people in The Forks protest? Then my proposal is shot.

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I present to you…

View attachment 21176

Interstate 92

Eastern Terminus: Jackson, Maine Border Crossing (A-73)

Western Terminus: Tobin Bridge: Boston, Massachusetts (Rt. 1 Upgraded and buried underground a la Tip O’ Neill Tunnel)

The I-93 stretch North of Boston would be buried from Saugus to Peabody. Would run concurrent with I-95 from Peabody to Portsmouth.

E: I-92/ N: I-95
W: I-92: S: I-95

The northeastern extension would run from the White Mountains all the lib long way east to Jackson. With few exists and lots of room for rest areas.

I could even create my own cities up there, but better than in Sims.

👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽????
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What's the purpose and need for this highway?
 
Yea... There's not exactly that many people that would strictly need this. You're crossing a lot of difficult terrain, and frankly nothing about the local economies in those areas benefit from the faster connections created to ... Conway or Quebec City. The existing connecting roads are more than adequate for the needs of their communities.

Keep in mind... the majority of freight traffic isn't so time critical that this would make any difference whatsoever. There's no meaningful benefit beyond a to very small number of people. And if there was enough passenger demand, there'd be a flight of some description, at least from Boston. Also, for the record, Quebec Province ≠ Quebec City. The economic and population heart of Quebec isn't Quebec City - it's Montreal. Which has the flight to BOS and why it has I87 pointed right at it, despite going through mostly nothing, and why 91 skews it's direction.

Edit: I also just Google mapped it out of curiosity. From South Station via Conway, Bethel, Farmington to QC it's currently 437 miles on existing roads, taking 8h23m. Via 91 and Sherbrooke it's 407 miles at 6h20m. Given the terrain, I think you'll be hard-pressed to shorten distances any... And 2 hours savings for negligible usership at a cost of x billions is never going to make it off paper.
 
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BeyondRevenue said:
Okay, good catch cburns. I had completely ignored the Mt. Vernon underpass and the 15 foot rise on the south. I was so happy to send the Troopers packing that I forgot it was there.
So I went into God Mode, expanded the map a bit, and I now declare the old NW-SE running Mt. V. underpass is only for busses, bikes and pedestrians. Bonus, this eliminates the need for the second head house since most of the pedestrians are going to arrive via free BRT in dedicated lanes from the new neighborhood and UMass. I have deemed it thus in my sweeping edict as the Omnipotent Ruler of TKC!
The bus SB turnarounds are going to be just below the old pedestrian overpass, which I removed since the intersections are half as wide now and the Mt.Vernon street underpass does the same thing.
Also, I am making everybody put up a green buffer to Morrissey Blvd. Sorry, I'm God. Don't do it and I will smite you.

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This is a crazy good idea! Go further and break up the rotary to a three way intersection. Also, to much of a separation running the boulevard between the two neighborhoods. Run straight thru between the K and L parcel to intersect at Mt Vernon. The only drawback would be the development would have to wait for 20 years of wrangling with the state.
 
kingofsheeba said:
Commerce. And quicker access to Quèbec!
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Actually, New England / Massachusetts is in a squabble about routing hydro power transmission lines thru Maine from Quebec. Maybe if there was a combo highway and power lines, people would actually buy into the project more. Keep looking at the big picture ,there is commerce expansion up this way, natural recourses and such. Commonwealth Magazine - energy
 
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