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I used a URL , not KML...
The URL of the KML source is the one that I use.
I used a URL , not KML...
The URL of the KML source is the one that I use.
How about running CR over Wakefield branch to Danvers and the Malls/Peabody? Hits 128 twice, 1-95, 114, and tons and tons of wetland without having to worry about making a second Salem tunnel. Plus the additional traffic could mean more rapid transit like headways on the Reading Line. Plus it crosses right by cemeteries, because screw the Mattapan "High-Speed" Line and it's dumb claim to fame for doing that.
To be fair this seemed like a much less crazy pitch when I started. Also, this is my first map so please be gentle, but any comments/criticisms are greatly appreciated.
https://maps.google.com/maps/myplac...y6TkeS1IIekqlX6Z7a40&vps=1&num=10&safe=strict
To be honest, I think you'd be better off utilizing the former South Reading Branch railroad. It was primarily consumer by 128, but if you stuck it in the median or on the side, it would probably still be competitive in cost with your idea, and provide a more ideal routing, as well as not tearing up any bike paths.
No stop at Waverley?
Not sure I understand the proposed service patterns. Are you proposing to four-track the Dorchester extension + part of Braintree?
You're probably right, but I also think that the ridership is artificially depressed due to having to transfer at Ashmont, causing people to walk or bus to Ashmont instead. Also, I was putting the Milton stop at Central Ave, which is 1.56 track miles from Ashmont, and 1.13 miles as the crow flies. I believe an infill station would be necessary (agreed that two may be excessive). Let's say keep Butler and get rid of CG. The distance between Central Ave (Milton) and Butler is .6 track miles, the same as Shawmut to Fields Corner. The distance between Butler and Ashmont is .96 track miles, one of the longer station spacing on the red line. I see your argument for removal of one of the infills, but disagree with the removal of both.Get rid of Cedar Grove and Butler. Ashmont-CG and Butler-Milton are closer stop spacing than any other RL stations except SS-DTX and DTX-Park. There are no bus connections at any of the ex-M intermediate stops except Milton/Central Ave. And--if you assume that Milton + Central Ave. ridership will combine--the ridership on those tiny stops is < 1/5 that of Milton and Mattapan. Milton and Mattapan will reliably scale up to the boardings on the other Ashmont branch stations with the beefed-up service, but if the relative boardings on the extension stay proportional CG and Butler become the two extreme low outliers on the entire RL (and probably all 3 HRT lines). No Mattapan extension proposal has ever included any of the intermediates except for the combined Milton stop. Stop distance is not that long when you consider that the cemetery and Dorchester Park are a big central buffer that keep all residences on either side within half-mile walking distance of Ashmont or Milton. Nobody's inconvenienced by that relative to avg. stop spacing on the rest of the HRT system.
Get rid of Popes Hill. Fields Corner, Shawmut, and Ashmont cover all the area west of Adams St. at < half-mile. Port Norfolk (the ex-Old Colony station there was called "Neponset") covers all the rest not within half-mile of the Ashmont Branch. That infill station is really badly needed today. If we had...you know...a City Hall that actually gave a shit, that could've happened years ago. If they don't go overboard on the glass palaces that may be the lowest-hanging fruit in the city for a new rapid transit constituency.
Randolph is a no-go. Look at the Old Colony boardings at Randolph/Holbrook...they're the lowest on the Middleboro Line for any non-RL overlap station. The area's got not-bad bus coverage for how far-flung and lowish-density it is. They're well-served by increasing frequencies on the 230 into Braintree.
You're probably right, but I also think that the ridership is artificially depressed due to having to transfer at Ashmont, causing people to walk or bus to Ashmont instead. Also, I was putting the Milton stop at Central Ave, which is 1.56 track miles from Ashmont, and 1.13 miles as the crow flies. I believe an infill station would be necessary (agreed that two may be excessive). Let's say keep Butler and get rid of CG. The distance between Central Ave (Milton) and Butler is .6 track miles, the same as Shawmut to Fields Corner. The distance between Butler and Ashmont is .96 track miles, one of the longer station spacing on the red line. I see your argument for removal of one of the infills, but disagree with the removal of both.
I have to disagree. The Old Colony had tighter stop spacing than the RL did when these lines were all steam RR's, and its station spacing went Neponet to a stop called Harrison Sq. in the middle of the wye where the branches split (transfer stop primarily...was way too close to Fields Corner to be a neighborhood stop). So Popes Hill was not a priority back then in the days of ultra-dense spacing. Pretty much the whole area east of the tracks and south of Victory Rd. is all Morrissey Blvd. scuzzy car-oriented commercial/industrial. That's a transit dead zone. There aren't any buses there, and all the ones that do go down Neponset Ave. feed right into Fields Corner and your probable Neponset station, chopping the catchment area for Popes Hill into a very small less-than half circle. At best. Maybe a little less. Grafting a walking path along the Ashmont tracks to Fields Corner and a footbridge or more spacious Park St. underpass for direct access to FC serves the northern part of the catchment area pretty well for increased ped access. That doesn't leave very much left in the middle. I think this one's another sub-HRT caliber crater on the projected boardings because of the lack of connections and skewed catchment area.Here are half miles radii around "Port Norfolk," "Popes Hill," Ashmont, Shawmut and Fields Corner. As you can see, "Popes Hill" covers an area that "Port Norfolk" does not. The old Neponset station was a bit south of my proposed "Port Norfolk" station, and would be inadequate by itself, as shown. A better solution would be to consolidate and have a station farther north, by Norwood Street. I agree, a really badly needed infill station. I disagree with placing it as far south as Neponset Station was, though.
Problem with that is it's just not that bad a bus ride. Many people opt to go to Braintree or take BAT because it's easy. It's not a very transit-underserved area. And the MPO did do a *very* cursory study of a Randolph Branch DMU shuttle. There was so little interest or evidence of ridership that it didn't even advance to formal study.I was proposing for it to travel along the unused ROW to North Main Street, serving the center of Randolph. With some improvements, this could be a 30 minute ride to Downtown Crossing. I would be interested in seeing what the BAT bus ridership is before conceding this one. Randolph has both more people and a higher population density than Needham, Reading, Lexington, Burlington and Milton which are all considered worthy of rapid transit. Randolph is actually denser than Braintree, and would have a quicker ride downtown than Riverside does. Not as far flung or low density as perceived, especially when you show that you are on board with Lexington and Milton having rapid transit connection (Burlington has the advantage with park-and-ride ridership).
Where exactly are you plunking that 128 stop? If the Fitchburg Line is being punted to the Central Mass to allow the Red Line through, then a direct CR-RL transfer at the park-and-ride has to be sited close to where the Central Mass meets back with the Fitchburg. That's going to mean it has to be on the Weston side of 128 by the pond. Probably with the existing driveway to the Microsoft campus reaching from 117 and the Biogen driveway feeding it from the 20 side, connected by a bridge over the tracks. Assume the CR and RL platforms are offset by a couple hundred feet on opposite sides of the Microsoft building and connected by a footbridge. That is probably the only way you can unite the two ROW's into a superstation.The one thing is I would argue against is needing a Brandeis stop. The "Waltham/128" stop is 1000 feet from the edge campus. Add a path to get to the station and boom! No need to add extra infill stops until demand deems it necessary. The Brandeis stop seems like much more overkill than the East Arlington and Brattle Street stops.