Dreamproject

[joebos]

I would move the Airport out of the city to free up space for new construction.

 

[ralman]

MY dream project.

1.someone said they would add building space my doing what boston has done before. reclaim land from the river or ocean. we cant do that because its just enviromentaly wrong in so many ways. too many laws against that..

2. south boston water front was a great oportunity to extend downtown and build new with less restrictions and complaints.. unfortunately the area is too close to Logan. so we are limted in height.

3. my project would be.
like the boston waterfront is making use of parkinglot and warehouse wasteland. as is northpoint and even sullivan square.
we can ad an entire new neighborhood or district in boston one larger than north point or fan pier.. it is the south boston warehouse and railyard area
bordering MAss Ave near 93.

starting on the block where the picture says this "this image is a verry low resolution" where this industrial area truns residential again.

this end of the industrial is as far from downtown boston as the prudential center is. not one bit further. I would build a long back bay like neighborhood.
just much denser. not downtown dense just higher than fan pier and low in some areas.. like there is a space between the Hancock tower and te rest of down town their will be a space between the few towers here and the South station tower or (gateway towers) if built.

add a few T stops along the way. there would be six to 7 new blocks. denser than the back bay. mix use mostly residential some shopping and offices in a main block maybe.

a brand new street grid some air rights some open space.

it could be more of a gateway project than the actual (gateway project)

 

[Ron Newman]

Are you sure that is Mass Ave? It looks to me like A Street, next to Fort Point Channel and Gillette.

 

[ralman]

its the area surounding 93 bordered by dorchester ave mass ave and albany street.

 

[Riverworks]

How about making the Silver Line and the Urban Ring entirely LIGHT RAIL. Use light rail to reach out to the broken communities of Chelsea, Everett, and parts of East Boston. Make an Indigo Line that begins at Fairmount, connects to South Station (or parts of South Boston), Aqaurium, the NORTH END and tunnels under the harbor to Charlestown. Bring all of the Green Line UNDERGROUND and throw away those stupid Bretta cars. I feel like im on a haunted mine ride everytime I sit up front. How about express trains for more popular stations .. or just for the people who park at the outer stations just to commute to downtown Boston.

Basically, extend light rail to communities within the 95/128 belt.

 

[mass88]

How about making the Silver Line and the Urban Ring entirely LIGHT RAIL. Use light rail to reach out to the broken communities of Chelsea, Everett, and parts of East Boston. Make an Indigo Line that begins at Fairmount, connects to South Station (or parts of South Boston), Aqaurium, the NORTH END and tunnels under the harbor to Charlestown. Bring all of the Green Line UNDERGROUND and throw away those stupid Bretta cars. I feel like im on a haunted mine ride everytime I sit up front. How about express trains for more popular stations .. or just for the people who park at the outer stations just to commute to downtown Boston.

Basically, extend light rail to communities within the 95/128 belt.

I would love it if they could somehow burry the B, C and E green lines. It is pathetic to think it takes 45-55 minutes to go from Strathmore or Washington stations on the B line to government center. I agree that extending light rail to the commuities mention would be great. How about doing so in the other direction as well, to Needham, Westwood, Dedham, Watertown, etc.



Building a brand new airport outside of the city would be my dream project. Logan is old, ugly and without land to expand and compete with other airports of relative size.

 

[Equilibria]

^^

They actually thought hard about building an airport outside of Boston about 15 years ago, and got shot down hard. Basically, their chosen site (Ft. Devens, on Rte. 2 past I-495) was so unpopular as to make it impossible, even for the airport people involved (who were quite dedicated to the idea, actually). Ultimately, the FAA decided to push MHT and PVD as alternatives to Logan, Southwest moved in, and the whole thing was set aside.

My dream project for Boston (unfeasible) is replacing Logan's B and C terminals with a new single complex in the style of Terminal A, with a main building and satellite connected by an underground walkway. Capacity would probably stay the same, but the look would unify the airport, since A and D look pretty much the same. Oh, and moving the Blue Line station under central parking would be nice.

My other dream project (feasible) is convincing the developers at Fenway to move the Yawkey station rebuild across Brookline Ave. and creating a new transit hub over the Pike at Kenmore, with commuter rail service, Green Line (linked by escalators from the lobby to Kenmore Station), and busses out front. There could be Red Sox themed retail on several floors (the team has no pro shop that I know of), along with some restaurants and maybe a major retailer on the upper floors. My model for this is the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago, which has a mall set up. Oh, and there's a decently-sized skyscraper on top. That would be nice, too.

 

[Lrfox]

What's unfortunate about not moving the airport a ways outside the city is that we'll never see what they would have used for mass transit from Boston to the airport. Maybe they would have stuck with the commuter rail, but it would have been cool to see a monorail (instead of spending money on cleaning up Main st.), or a Maglev, or High speed rail link to the core of the city. It's Boston, they probably would have extended the B Line out there to make for a 6 hour commute, but it would have been fun to even discuss the different proposals.

Another thing we're missing from the airport not being moved (besides the opportunity to develop the land there) would be the FAA height regulations being lifted. It's a good bet that SST could be "SOARRRING" at over 850 feet right now, and it would be neat to see what would happen at the SB Waterfront if flightpathes weren't in the way.

If only....

 

[lexicon506]

It's easy to be mad at Logan for shooting down our 1000' Seaport tower dreams and hogging valuable Eastie land. But having the airport so close to downtown probably does more good than harm, at least from an economic perspective.

 

[Ron Newman]

Hanscom or South Weymouth would have been other logical choices for a second airport or a relocated main airport. For Hanscom, you'd need that Red Line extension. South Weymouth already has rail service.

 

[itchy]

Bring all of the Green Line UNDERGROUND and throw away those stupid Bretta cars. I feel like im on a haunted mine ride everytime I sit up front.

Yes! That quote was so good I'm inspired to add to the (I'm embarrassed to say) 6 dream projects I jotted down in January...

There're some great ideas we've come up with: I like the Urban Ring/improving transport/trolleys ideas; the beer garden on the Greenway -- about the only thing IMO that could redeem that space without developing a number of the parcels; and reclaiming the lost spaces of South Boston along the Fort Point Channel. I'd extend that idea to pretty much any area that has been rendered useless by highway infrastructure -- the area around Nashua St between the Monsignor O'Brien and 93; the mess that 93 creates around South Station/Chinatown/the old Wang Building; 93's environs in E Cambridge, Charlestown and Somerville; and the sad, sad, sorry entrance to Boston that is the cracked-out railway yards near the Mass Pike/tollbooths in Allston. Imagine turning those dead zones into densely-built "green" communities heated geothermally, washing dishes and flushing toilets with recycled water, solar-powered and connected to a robust public transportation system of hybrid buses and trolleys. ...

Anyway...

7) Reclaiming the West End. Start by junking Charles River Park. Then rebuild the West End's street grid, and build a normal, functional neighborhood of small-footprint, 4- to 7-story townhouses, shops and businesses that would once again be open to the city.

8) Kicking the feds and city pols out of Government Center, reconnecting the area (once again) to the pre-Logue street grid and rebuilding Scollay Square as much as is possible. As much as I've railed against it all my life, I now think it'd be great to leave City Hall and convert it into a funky, maze-like rabbits' warren of shops, small businesses, daycare, etc. Paint it Scandinavian colors, install garage doors on the ground floors for open-air cafes and bars, plant gardens on it, make it relevant and attractive to creative businesses and people.

I will personally remove the bricks from the Plaza myself, one by one. Get rid of that failure and build on it, preserving a smaller square for the neighborhood ... with a beer garden, perhaps? Not sure whether to try to make the most of Gropius' JFK or to raze it. O'Neill, Hurley, Leverett Saltonstall and the area's 7 parking garages get the axe, bringing in green residential townhouses and shops on the old street grid to plant the seeds of a real neighborhood.

9) Finally, there are areas meant for parks and areas not meant for parks. I think the Greenway is not meant for a big, long park but for a tightly built neighborhood. What IS meant for a park are some of the North End wharves currently used for parking lots and the island/peninsula jutting out from Charlestown under the Tobin Bridge.

The Tobin Bridge island in particular is pretty big and ideally suits a copycat version of the La Ronde amusement park on the Ile Ste. Helene in Montreal. A bawdy, fun amusement park with things for kids and adults -- more Coney Island than Six Flags.

An amphitheater or outdoor concert venue/park with some outdoor cafes would be a much better use of some of the wharves in the North End than the parking lots there now, as would a museum (history, design or ecological -- again stealing from Montreal, something like the Biodome) or small zoo.

 

[mass88]

What's unfortunate about not moving the airport a ways outside the city is that we'll never see what they would have used for mass transit from Boston to the airport. Maybe they would have stuck with the commuter rail, but it would have been cool to see a monorail (instead of spending money on cleaning up Main st.), or a Maglev, or High speed rail link to the core of the city. It's Boston, they probably would have extended the B Line out there to make for a 6 hour commute, but it would have been fun to even discuss the different proposals.

Another thing we're missing from the airport not being moved (besides the opportunity to develop the land there) would be the FAA height regulations being lifted. It's a good bet that SST could be "SOARRRING" at over 850 feet right now, and it would be neat to see what would happen at the SB Waterfront if flightpathes weren't in the way.

If only....

Is the reason SST is only 700 feet because of the FAA? I think the most logical choice would be an extension of one of the subway line. Several cities have their subway going to the airport and the service from what I have heard is not too bad. I have only taken the subway to O'Hare a few years back and tha trip was pretty long. I have been back since and noticed they are doing major construction to get the time down between downtown and O'HARE. In any event, I bet a commuter rail stop and subway stop is the way they would go.

It's easy to be mad at Logan for shooting down our 1000' Seaport tower dreams and hogging valuable Eastie land. But having the airport so close to downtown probably does more good than harm, at least from an economic perspective.

It definately is an advantage of having Logan located 2 miles from downtown, it's popular with business travelers of course. But at the same time, the land it sits on could be developed into a very nice area and also, bulding heights as mentioned would not have to be capped.

Hanscom or South Weymouth would have been other logical choices for a second airport or a relocated main airport. For Hanscom, you'd need that Red Line extension. South Weymouth already has rail service.

Those would have been solid choices, I would say if possible, just west of Boston, Say the Wellesley/Needham area would be the ideal location as the drive times from the north and south shores are not drastically changed, metrowest is obviously right next door and people coming up from the south (North Attleboro, Franklin, etc.) and Rhopde Island have an easier drive.

 

[Lrfox]

^I know that on one of the earlier designs the FAA scaled it back from over 800 feet to about 700. I'm not sure If the newest plan called for something taller and was scaled back as well or if they just said, "the hell with it" and didn't try for anything taller. I can only assume that if the Airport weren't where it is, A taller SST would have already been built. I can't imagine there would be too much NIMBY opposition to the height given the location of the tower.

*Edit* I simply don't have enough information in front of me to say whether or not I think it would be better for the city to move the airport outside the city or keep it where it is. There are great benefits of having it so close, but there is also so much potential for that land if it were gone. It's a very interesting debate.

 

[aquaman]

Those would have been solid choices, I would say if possible, just west of Boston, Say the Wellesley/Needham area would be the ideal location as the drive times from the north and south shores are not drastically changed, metrowest is obviously right next door and people coming up from the south (North Attleboro, Franklin, etc.) and Rhopde Island have an easier drive.

A more convenient and accessible location for the entire metro area is Weston.

 

[Ron Newman]

Those would have been solid choices, I would say if possible, just west of Boston, Say the Wellesley/Needham area would be the ideal location

Except that I don't know of any former military airports in that area. That's why I mentioned Hanscom and South Weymouth.

 

[cden4]

Keep in mind that much of the land the airport sits on was created FOR the airport. Were the airport not there, much of that land wouldn't be there either. There is a HUGE benefit to having the airport so conveniently located to downtown and to major transit nodes. I would not want it in any other location.

 

[Joe_Schmoe]

My dream project would be to pick up City Hall and move it to the Prudential Center. Demolish the JFK building. Then reestablish the old street pattern in the area.

 

[AdamBC]

Let's be honest, if they moved the airport, the project that took over the land would make Fan Pier look like great land use.