Crazy Transit Pitches

[coleslaw]

If you want to go really crazy you could criss cross the river with bridges/ tunnels to serve some areas lacking rail in the inner ring something like a stop at MGH, across the river stop at mass ave, stop at cambridgeport, across the river, 2-3 stops in lower alston, across again, stop at arsenal , stop at watertown center stop, across again, stop at nonantum, across the river, stop at bleachery, end line in waltham center. Really would be the blue line.

 

[whittle]

Other question is how to get through Allston once you're north or west of Beacon Yards redev. Right now Beacon Yards is *relatively* choose your own adventure until redevelopment actually happens and locks in ROW. Transit would *probably* hug the eastern side of the plot where the CSX loop is. Once you get towards Genzyme and Western Ave it gets tricky. Do you subway under Western Ave to SFR & Arsenal? Do you elevate? Do you try to get under the Harvard fields and go under SFR? Tough choices.

I was assuming you'd go between the pike and CR to Boston Landing (presumably with stops at West Station, Cambridge St, and Boston Landing (possibly outright replacing the CR station there since you'd need to rework the station a bit to get 4 tracks under Everett St). Probably the easiest way to get through Allston, but from there you'd probably need either a TBM or a pretty crazy flyover to get to Watertown.

 

[George_Apley]

I was assuming you'd go between the pike and CR to Boston Landing (presumably with stops at West Station, Cambridge St, and Boston Landing (possibly outright replacing the CR station there since you'd need to rework the station a bit to get 4 tracks under Everett St). Probably the easiest way to get through Allston, but from there you'd probably need either a TBM or a pretty crazy flyover to get to Watertown.

Could do that. You'd miss Harvard Business School, but that may be best left for a GLX anyway.

Would definitely need a TBM to get to Arsenal from the Pike ROW, regardless of whether you cross at Arsenal Street or cross at N Beacon and use Talcott to get to Arsenal.

 

[DominusNovus]

Alright, crazy highway idea:

If we had the budget to big dig the Southeast Expressway, and bury the whole thing all the way down to the Braintree Split, what might we do with the reclaimed land?

 

[cadetcarl]

HOUSING. God, so much housing. Also, the intersection of the Pike air rights parcels and SE Expy tunnel could be a new center of town. To get really crazy we could also bury the Red Line yard and develop both sides of the Channel/Bass River.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

You do realize that the average height in Boston is like 3 stories? You don't need these ridiculous plans to have more housing, just up zone.

 

[tysmith95]

I feel like you need improved transit. Growth without some sort of transit plan will result in an over-congested market. Although mixed use does help.

 

[Scalziand]

I would assume that making the old colony line fully double or triple tracked would help, and would be possible with the highway now buried.

 

[CSTH]

Alright, crazy highway idea:

If we had the budget to big dig the Southeast Expressway, and bury the whole thing all the way down to the Braintree Split, what might we do with the reclaimed land?

...build an 8-lane surface boulevard with a planted median, abundant metered parking, and ample green-metal highway signage?

 

[Charlie_mta]

...build an 8-lane surface boulevard with a planted median, abundant metered parking, and ample green-metal highway signage?

It would be called the Rose Kennedy Greenway Extension, all the way from South Station to Braintree at a cost of about $90 billion.

 

[tysmith95]

A new line from Boston Landing to the Seaport. Stops at Boston Landing, Allston Yards, BU bridge, Yawkee, Back Bay, Ink Block, Broadway in South Boston, Convention Center South, Convention Center North/Summer Street, Massport Haul Road.

 

[Charlie_mta]

A new line from Boston Landing to the Seaport. Stops at Boston Landing, Allston Yards, BU bridge, Yawkee, Back Bay, Ink Block, Broadway in South Boston, Convention Center South, Convention Center North/Summer Street, Massport Haul Road.

Deep-bored and Red Line type cars: it would be like the new Crossrail line almost finished in London.

 

[tysmith95]

Deep-bored and Red Line type cars: it would be like the new Crossrail line almost finished in London.

I just mentioned my route because it is where a ROW already exsists for the commuter rail.

But I like this excample. 9.6 miles of tunnel for self driving trains at the cost of 3.2 billion dollars.

http://intl.m.dk/#!/about+the+metro/metro+expansion/about+cityringen

 

[whittle]

Deep-bored and Red Line type cars: it would be like the new Crossrail line almost finished in London.

That sounds just like a regular subway line rather than Crossrail. Unless we're planning on feeding it with trains coming from the Worcester Line and OC, comparisons to Crossrail are probably off.

 

[tysmith95]

That sounds just like a regular subway line rather than Crossrail. Unless we're planning on feeding it with trains coming from the Worcester Line and OC, comparisons to Crossrail are probably off.

Crossrail is a regular subway line.

 

[Scalziand]

No its not. Crossrail is linking the overground commuter rail lines together.

 

[JeffDowntown]

No its not. Crossrail is linking the overground commuter rail lines together.

Crossrail is kind of a hybrid. It is main line size train sets (600 ft long, 1,500 passengers), but operating at subway frequency (2.5 minute headways at peak).

It is, though, essentially a very high capacity commuter/regional rail system, with 42 km of new tunnel across central London (tying into Network Rail lines west out to Heathrow and Reading; east to Essex.)

 

[bakgwailo]

Crossrail is kind of a hybrid. It is main line size train sets (600 ft long, 1,500 passengers), but operating at subway frequency (2.5 minute headways at peak).

It is, though, essentially a very high capacity commuter/regional rail system, with 42 km of new tunnel across central London (tying into Network Rail lines west out to Heathrow and Reading; east to Essex.)

Yeah - wouldn't it be more akin/analogous to the NSRL than anything else?

 

[whittle]

Yeah - wouldn't it be more akin/analogous to the NSRL than anything else?

Yes, particularly part of the reason Crossrail is a such a big deal is that London lacks much through running rail service, and none that east-west. I believe the only ones that currently exist are Thameslink (which has suffered from capacity issues until this year) and another line that goes through a decent ways west of the urban core.

 

[tysmith95]

The NSRL would only be a 1.5 mile connection between 2 rail nodes. Crossrail on the other hand includes a totally new 13 mile tunnel through the center of London with multiple new stations. It's much more complex then the NSRL would be.

Of course if you add in electrification of all of the commuter rail lines plus some good old Massachusetts corruption and inefficiencies the cost of the NSRL may near the cost of the Crossrail project in London.