Brattle Loop
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What is the feasibility of extending the E line through Heath St (with a connection to the orange line at Jackson Square) then down the new center running bus lanes on Columbus ave? I am thinking his could end in Egleston as a first stage or more ideally or in a latter stage connect through Seaver St. to Blue Hill ave or continue in a cross town direction along Columbia Rd. In either version this would enable cross town trips in the center and south of the city, especially for people in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan getting to work/medical care in the LMA and it would massively expand transit access and reliability in parts of the city who currently lack consistent rapid transit.
If the line extended all the way it would be a long single seat ride downtown but could be sped up by switching to orange at Jackson or the Fairmont line at either Blue Hill Ave with that route or at Four Corners on the other. Other possible routes or possible connections could be made down Talbot Ave to Ashmont (this could be a truly transformative option if you extended it into the Mattapan High Speed line, potentially creating a loop with the route down Blue Hill, connecting the red and orange lines in the south of the city, as well as connect to the Fairmont line at Talbot ave) or down Morton St to Lower mills (which would also connect to the line but wouldn't have the same potential to create a single seat ride). Also in my Ideal mental map I see the silverline becoming the light rail line it always should have been and extending to connect with this proposal at Egleston (down Washington and for old times sake lets just say with with a contemporary style light rail L) and/or down Warren st from Blue hill ave (this looks like a possible choke point though it widens further down.)
I know there used to be trolly lines on most of this route (I deliberately picked streets that once had them and retain the width to make it possible) so I am thinking as "crazy" as it sounds politically it should be possible physically, is there a constraint I may be missing? Maps attached:View attachment 16105View attachment 16106View attachment 16107View attachment 16108
I look at these maps and just see "dispatching nightmare" written all over them. Maybe it's just me, but I even think that the idea of extending the E to Jackson Square might be more trouble than it's worth given how narrow Heath Street gets. The last thing the Green Line needs is even more unpredictability in schedule-keeping. Unless we're talking about taking every bit of surface parking on some of these roads, dedicated or semi-dedicated lanes with rigorous enforcement (ha...right...that'll be the day) and full trolley prioritization this amount of street running would blow the schedule to pieces, which would be bad if all it did was make this new service unreliable, but if it touches the Central Subway it then blows its schedule-keeping to hell too. It's already a problem (albeit one the T has been somewhat lax at trying to deal with), I don't like the prospect of making it worse, even as a Crazy Transit Pitch.