General Infrastructure

[matredsoxfan]

Does anyone know if the Canton interchange project is still going to happen?

According to this site, work on phase 1 (the project is to be completed in 3 phases) was supposed to start this past Fall.

Looking over the work, seems like it's a smart and welcome move to widen 95 south to 4 full travel lanes from the 93 interchange until Neponsett Street.

Project has been broken into 3 separate phases. Phase 1 has started and involves improvements to the I-95 SB Blue Hill Avenue off Ramp and Canton Street/University Avenue Intersection. The $5.5 Million project is scheduled for completion in Fall 2015.

Phase 2 will involve widening Dedham Street to 4-lanes, widening 2 bridges over AMTRAK & Neponset River and replacing the bridge over I-95. Also a off Ramp from I-95 NB to Dedham St will be built and signals will be installed at the ramps. This phase is estimated at $35 Million and will begin in Fall 2015.

The final Phase, Phase 3 will replace the entire interchange with high speed flyover ramps. That phase expected to begin in Fall 2016 and is estimated to cost $191.4 Million.

More information can be found here http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/HighlightedProjects/cantoninterchange.aspx

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

I wish the image on that page was larger.

 

[Equilibria]

I wish the image on that page was larger.

Yeah, and there's no update date either. Given that the Add-a-Lane and Allston both got much more elaborate websites when they were actually ready to move forward, I'm not sure I buy that start date.

 

[mass88]

Project has been broken into 3 separate phases. Phase 1 has started and involves improvements to the I-95 SB Blue Hill Avenue off Ramp and Canton Street/University Avenue Intersection. The $5.5 Million project is scheduled for completion in Fall 2015.

Phase 2 will involve widening Dedham Street to 4-lanes, widening 2 bridges over AMTRAK & Neponset River and replacing the bridge over I-95. Also a off Ramp from I-95 NB to Dedham St will be built and signals will be installed at the ramps. This phase is estimated at $35 Million and will begin in Fall 2015.

The final Phase, Phase 3 will replace the entire interchange with high speed flyover ramps. That phase expected to begin in Fall 2016 and is estimated to cost $191.4 Million.

More information can be found here http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/HighlightedProjects/cantoninterchange.aspx

Yea, I saw that page a few days ago. I guess I am missing where the actual construction is happening, which prompted my questions.


I also saw that the final segment of the 128 widening project is expect to run from October 2014 until January 2019 and was wondering why the heck the final portion is going to take 4 plus years? I understand it's going to be a lot of work given what they're going to do to the Highland Ave overpass and Kendrick Street overpass, but 4 years to complete it?

 

[matredsoxfan]

Yea, I saw that page a few days ago. I guess I am missing where the actual construction is happening, which prompted my questions.


I also saw that the final segment of the 128 widening project is expect to run from October 2014 until January 2019 and was wondering why the heck the final portion is going to take 4 plus years? I understand it's going to be a lot of work given what they're going to do to the Highland Ave overpass and Kendrick Street overpass, but 4 years to complete it?

Kendrick & Highland are not the only interchanges but also Route 9. Each bridge needs to be replaced in phases and the interchanges need to stay open too so that also needs to be phased. Not to mention the highway widening/drainage work repaving all which needs to be phased. This is also the largest contract $136 Million.

 

[FK4]

Are there plans to fix the 93/95 interchange up north as well? That one is a total nightmare, but Ive never heard anything specific about fixing it.

 

[George_Apley]

Are there plans to fix the 93/95 interchange up north as well? That one is a total nightmare, but Ive never heard anything specific about fixing it.

AFAIK that one is planned but way down the pipeline.

 

[mass88]

Are there plans to fix the 93/95 interchange up north as well? That one is a total nightmare, but Ive never heard anything specific about fixing it.

Hopefully that gets done. From what I experience, the 93/95 interchange ion Woburn, the 90/95 interchange in Weston, the 93/95 interchange in Canton and the stretch of 24 from 93 to exit 20 are prime areas that need to be rebuilt and fixed.

Kendrick & Highland are not the only interchanges but also Route 9. Each bridge needs to be replaced in phases and the interchanges need to stay open too so that also needs to be phased. Not to mention the highway widening/drainage work repaving all which needs to be phased. This is also the largest contract $136 Million.

I am not trying to downplay the work that needs to be done, it just seems like a very long time at 4 plus years. When this entire project is done, we're talking about almost 8 years to finish it all. That seems a bit crazy.

 

[chmeeee]

Are there plans to fix the 93/95 interchange up north as well? That one is a total nightmare, but Ive never heard anything specific about fixing it.

I think it's under design.

http://www.9395info.com/index.html

The basic gist of it if you don't want to dig into the documents is wiping out the two 270 degree loops that take you from 95 to 93 and replacing them with flyover ramps, which removes all four of the weaves.

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

matredsoxfan, do you know the procurement method for the Canton Interchange?

 

[whighlander]

It's same the Deval bashing drivel that's become his go to.

.... our Commonwealth is in the best condition it has been in 25+ years. All jobs lost in the recession were recovered. Employment is highest in 25 years.
.....

If we want progress, we have to be willing to pay what it actually costs to make progress.

Data -- You do understand that the number of jobs being highest in 25 years is not what counts:
1) the number of people is the largest ever -- so you would expect the largest number of jobs and job holders all other things being equal
2) the number of jobs says nothing about the type of job or even whether the job is full time or part time
3) the recession affected the states and cities in dramatically variant ways with Washington DC not seeing a recession at all -- similarly during the recovery while Cambridge has been on a roll with new construction - -there are plenty of places in the Commonwealth that are just treading water
4) Ultimately, taxing more leads to less investment by the private sector which ultimately results in less economic activity, less growth of quality of jobs and smaller overall incomes including to the government through the income tax

Finally all statements based on statistics have to be taken with a substantial "Block of Salt" -- e.g.
the oft repeated statement that 100% of net jobs created since 2007 have been created in Texas
or that Sommerville is only the 15th densest city in the US [true if you include some microscopic incorporated areas such as

• 
  1 Guttenberg
  5 Kaser
  7 Cliffside Park
  8 East Newark
  11 Great Neck Plaza
  12 North Bay Village

the largest of the above which is barely one square mile and 3 of which are less than 1/4 sq. mile in area

What we do know about the Deval administration however is that it was rife with corruption and scandal which may take years to fully unwind

 

[datadyne007]

Lol. Delirium at its finest. Keep watching FOX.

 

[matredsoxfan]

matredsoxfan, do you know the procurement method for the Canton Interchange?

Sounds like Design-Bid-Build.

 

[matredsoxfan]

I think it's under design.

http://www.9395info.com/index.html

The basic gist of it if you don't want to dig into the documents is wiping out the two 270 degree loops that take you from 95 to 93 and replacing them with flyover ramps, which removes all four of the weaves.

The job is so big the state has recently decided to break it into several phases. 1st will be the replacement of the Washington Street bridge, next will widen 128/95 and then a complete rebuild of the interchange will be last.

 

[whighlander]

Lol. Delirium at its finest. Keep watching FOX.

Data -- Come up for a breath of air from time to time

as someone once said -- you are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts

The reality is that the current "Recovery" has been a pale version of all post WWII recoveries overall and very uneven depending on location and sector -- e.g. for very different reasons Wash DC and North Dakota have never seen anything but a boom

In Greater Boston We just happened to see some of the best of it -- and yet even here outside of a cluster of jobs in bio and some in IT -- quality job creation has been anemic

Kendall Sq. has done very well yet there is still a fairly high vacancy rate for industrial and R&D properties along I-495 and the old RT-2, RT-3 Computer - Tech corridor

And ironically, for a President who wanted the US to have EU-type gasoline prices -- the approx $2.30 per gallon of gasoline of today has been the biggest stimulus to the consumer part of the economy

 

[shmessy]

Data -- Come up for a breath of air from time to time

as someone once said -- you are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts

The reality is that the current "Recovery" has been a pale version of all post WWII recoveries overall

....have you stopped to wonder WHY? Because you are using a conveniently faulty measuring stick.

The 2007-2008 collapse was the worst since the PRE-WWII Great Depression. No recession in your post WWII measuring stick ever came close to the depth and quickness of what we experienced in 2007-2008.

So you are comparing apples to oranges again.

Thank God for Obama and Patrick saving this country and Commonwealth from the gross incompetencies of W. The dollar is king again, the Dow is up almost 180% in 6 years, GDP growth last quarter was 5%, the US economy is envy of the world.

You worry about 495 and suburban corridors? It is because the CITIES are booming and people and businesses are merely migrating back. That is SMART GROWTH - - sprawl is not a good thing.

Facts talk and mere words walk, Whighlander. Performance counts.

But please, keep the comedy coming with your pining for the George W. Bush years.

 

[whighlander]

....have you stopped to wonder WHY? Because you are using a conveniently faulty measuring stick.

The 2007-2008 collapse was the worst since the PRE-WWII Great Depression. No recession in your post WWII measuring stick ever came close to the depth and quickness of what we experienced in 2007-2008.

So you are comparing apples to oranges again.

Thank God for Obama and Patrick saving this country and Commonwealth from the gross incompetencies of W. The dollar is king again, the Dow is up almost 180% in 6 years, GDP growth last quarter was 5%, the US economy is envy of the world.

You worry about 495 and suburban corridors? It is because the CITIES are booming and people and businesses are merely migrating back. That is SMART GROWTH - - sprawl is not a good thing.

Facts talk and mere words walk, Whighlander. Performance counts.

But please, keep the comedy coming with your pining for the George W. Bush years.

HUH????

Have you heard of the Misery Index which combined interest rates and Unemployment or the 2nd version combining unemployment with inflation

The decay of the US economy during the 1970's was given the term Stagflation for the ability to combine both a stagnant economy with high [by US standards] inflation -- this was something impossible by Keynesian Economics -- and even in the early 1970's it perplexed Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Samuelson -- I was taken an economics course from him at the time

To wring the inflation out of the economy Paul Volker at the Fed drove the interest rates to unprecedented levels -- where you could get a mortgage for above 10% and car loans were in the 15% range

Finally, the Inflation fever broke and the economy contracted so violently that many thought Reagan would follow Jimmy as a 1 termer ... But "Morning in America" finally dawned in mid 1983 and the economy roared back to life -- this time without inflation and for the next decade with small slips the economy continued to grow at impressive rates especially by comparison to this "recovery"

during the rebound there were a couple of months when over 1 million jobs were created and the GDP grew at close to "Chinese Warp Speed"

from http://www.nber.org/chapters/c10943.pdf

BUDGET DEFICITS, TAX INCENTIVES, AND INFLATION:
A SURPRISING LESSON FROM THE 1983-1984 RECOVERY
Martin Feldstein
Harvard University and NBER
Douglas W. Elmendorf
Harvard University and NBER

In November 1982, the unemployment rate reached 10.6 percent, the trough of the worst recession of the postwar period. During the next twenty-four months, the unemployment rate fel by 3.5 percentage points and real GNP expanded by 1.9 percent. This stronger-than normal expansion was accompanied by a declining rate of inflation; the
annualized rates of increase of the GNP deflator fell from 3.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 1982 to 3.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 1984.....

1. THE RISE IN NOMINAL GNP

The path of nominal GNP changed dramatically at the end of 1982. After rising at a rate of only 3.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 1981 through the fourth quarter of 1982, nominal GNP rose 9.8 percent in 1983 and 8.2 percent in 1984.

As for the comment about Cities versus suburbs -- have you tried to find the 100 odd acres in a city [Well OK perhaps in Houston or Oklahoma City sized cities by area] which you need for a semiconductor fab like the one Intel built in Hudson on I-495 circa 2000 or the even bigger fabs now in places like Chandler Arizona

or for that matter the plants where all the things used to build the building in cities are themselves fabbed -- e.g. steel rolling mills, plate glass lines, concrete plants to name a few

No -- Cities and their density are fine for a lot of things -- but some things just take space and you can not plug them into your urbanization for everything model

 

[shmessy]

HUH????

Have you heard of the Misery Index which combined interest rates and Unemployment or the 2nd version combining unemployment with inflation

The decay of the US economy during the 1970's was given the term Stagflation for the ability to combine both a stagnant economy with high [by US standards] inflation -- this was something impossible by Keynesian Economics -- and even in the early 1970's it perplexed Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Samuelson -- I was taken an economics course from him at the time

To wring the inflation out of the economy Paul Volker at the Fed drove the interest rates to unprecedented levels -- where you could get a mortgage for above 10% and car loans were in the 15% range

Finally, the Inflation fever broke and the economy contracted so violently that many thought Reagan would follow Jimmy as a 1 termer ... But "Morning in America" finally dawned in mid 1983 and the economy roared back to life -- this time without inflation and for the next decade with small slips the economy continued to grow at impressive rates especially by comparison to this "recovery"

during the rebound there were a couple of months when over 1 million jobs were created and the GDP grew at close to "Chinese Warp Speed"

from http://www.nber.org/chapters/c10943.pdf


As for the comment about Cities versus suburbs -- have you tried to find the 100 odd acres in a city [Well OK perhaps in Houston or Oklahoma City sized cities by area] which you need for a semiconductor fab like the one Intel built in Hudson on I-495 circa 2000 or the even bigger fabs now in places like Chandler Arizona

or for that matter the plants where all the things used to build the building in cities are themselves fabbed -- e.g. steel rolling mills, plate glass lines, concrete plants to name a few

No -- Cities and their density are fine for a lot of things -- but some things just take space and you can not plug them into your urbanization for everything model

Just another bizarre and off the subject post by you, Westy. You took a course with Samuelson 40 years ago? Great. I'm a CFP TODAY managing over $87 million of client assets (and have been for the past 23 years). We are talking about TODAY'S economy - - not your trip down memory lane to Reagan's military deficit exploding spending.

THIS economy has been saved from the worst and deepest hole since the Great Depression. You must have forgotten what March 2009 was. To get from there to here is an incredible achievement. The dollar is strong and the deficit is lower than BEFORE Obama came in:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...line-to-2-8-of-gdp-is-unprecedented-turn.html

US Deficit Decline to 2.8% of GDP Is Unprecedented Turn

"Robust economic growth has helped push the U.S. budget deficit down to the lowest level since 2008, marking the sharpest turnaround in the government’s fiscal position in at least 46 years....

....“That’s what happens when the government is holding itself back on spending and the economy is improving,” said George Goncalves, head of interest-rate strategy at Nomura Holdings Inc. in New York.....

.....The U.S. economy has added more than 200,000 jobs a month, on average, this year, driving down unemployment to a six-year low. The Fed last week focused on the labor market’s improvement as it announced an end to bond purchases designed to stimulate the economy by holding down long-term borrowing costs."

Obama has cleaned up W's mess. There is still a long way to go.

Westy, you can try to obfuscate this as much as you want by giving lectures about Volcker and Samuelson from 30-40 years ago. But the Cliff Clavin act doesn't work. This economy is strong and the envy of the world right now.

****I apologize to all for engaging Whighlander in another of his acts of taking a thread off subject, but since the Mods allow him to do it, and he continually takes advantage of that, I was not going to let him spread his ignorance on THIS particular subject again without confronting him with FACTS.

I won't follow up anymore on this and hope this thread can get back on subject. My apologies.

 

[oyhimylm]

HUH????

Have you heard of the Misery Index which combined interest rates and Unemployment or the 2nd version combining unemployment with inflation

The decay of the US economy during the 1970's was given the term Stagflation for the ability to combine both a stagnant economy with high [by US standards] inflation -- this was something impossible by Keynesian Economics -- and even in the early 1970's it perplexed Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Samuelson -- I was taken an economics course from him at the time

To wring the inflation out of the economy Paul Volker at the Fed drove the interest rates to unprecedented levels -- where you could get a mortgage for above 10% and car loans were in the 15% range

Finally, the Inflation fever broke and the economy contracted so violently that many thought Reagan would follow Jimmy as a 1 termer ... But "Morning in America" finally dawned in mid 1983 and the economy roared back to life -- this time without inflation and for the next decade with small slips the economy continued to grow at impressive rates especially by comparison to this "recovery"

during the rebound there were a couple of months when over 1 million jobs were created and the GDP grew at close to "Chinese Warp Speed"

from http://www.nber.org/chapters/c10943.pdf

The economics of the 70s-80s recession and the economics of the late 00s recession are totally different. As you stated, the earlier recession was created by the Federal Reserve to control inflation and to anchor expectations. After inflation had fallen significantly (and unemployment had skyrocketed), the Federal Reserve loosened monetary policy, and employment dramatically increased, bringing unemployment back to a "normal" level. "Morning in America" was not prompted by any alleged dramatic effect of Reagan, but by the loosening of monetary policy after inflation had been controlled. The recession ended the same way it began: dramatic action by the Fed.

The effect of Federal Reserve policy is very apparent. GDP and inflation went down and unemployment went up shortly after the federal funds rate went up in 1980. The reverse happened (except for inflation) when the federal funds rate was lowered in 82-83. The reduction in the federal funds rate was 10 percentage points.

The current recession, however, was not brought about purposefully by the Fed. A financial crisis caused a spontaneous dramatic fall in GDP and increase in unemployment. The Fed did all it could through its traditional, proven channel, and dropped the federal funds rate to .25%. Unfortunately, the rate started just above 5%, and the drop from 5% to .25% was not sufficient to create a roaring recovery like in the 80s. Further stimulative action required the use of quantitative easing, which had a limited, mixed-results track record, and expansionary fiscal policy. Compared to other developed economies, the US used these policies aggressively, and as shmessy said, our economic performance has been significantly better than most other developed economies.

The key differentiator between the recent recession and the "normal" post-WWII recession is that we hit the zero-lower-bound for monetary policy. Instead of the Federal Reserve being able to use its proven policies, we have been forced to use unconventional monetary policy and halfhearted expansionary fiscal policy. It's no surprise that this recovery has been relatively slow.

 

[whighlander]

Just another bizarre and off the subject post by you, Westy. You took a course with Samuelson 40 years ago? Great. I'm a CFP TODAY managing over $87 million of client assets (and have been for the past 23 years). We are talking about TODAY'S economy - - not your trip down memory lane to Reagan's military deficit exploding spending.....

Obama has cleaned up W's mess. There is still a long way to go.

Westy, you can try to obfuscate this as much as you want by giving lectures about Volcker and Samuelson from 30-40 years ago. But the Cliff Clavin act doesn't work. This economy is strong and the envy of the world right now.

****I apologize to all for engaging Whighlander in another of his acts of taking a thread off subject, but since the Mods allow him to do it, and he continually takes advantage of that, I was not going to let him spread his ignorance on THIS particular subject again without confronting him with FACTS.

I won't follow up anymore on this and hope this thread can get back on subject. My apologies.

Shmessy -- Apology Accepted in the spirit of Auld Lang Syne and Happy New Year

Congratulations on your success with the important task of managing other peoples hard earned money. $87 million of client assets is a significant responsibility.

Your economic revisionism however is another matter -- Sorry to introduce reality to you and the Obama apologists who are just pounding the rhetorical table -- as in the old lawyers adage: if you have the facts pound the facts; if you have the law pound the law; and if you have neither -- well pound the table.

Look up the term U6, take a look at the Participation Rate – neither of these are things to crow about.

Sure the US economy is hard to keep down – look for instance just at the success of the petroleum revolution.

In just a decade, we've gone from being a major importer of oil and even natural gas, to being on the threshold of energy self-sufficiency. Everyone is talking about the Bakken shale oil production and fracking – but our innovative private energy sector using new technologies for locating and producing smaller formations and regenerating old oil fields has boosted Pennsylvania back into a position of being an important oil and natural gas producer*, and restored Texas to the top with 48% of the active on-land rigs in the US and total production for 2014 of 870 million barrels of oil and 8.0 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- Texas Railroad Commission data http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/all-news/122314b/.

Not even the powers of Obama’s henchmen at the EPA, and the other places where they have infested can now keep the US from going from being the leading worldwide producer of natural gas this year, to probably the leading producer of oil by 2018.

However, just think about how much more growth the economy could have without the onerous burdens of Obamacare and the silliness of the EPA trying to regulate CO2 – aka Life. And then there are the thousands of other pages of useless and counterproductive regulations being foisted on every sector of the economy.

So once again I sincerely laud you in achieving good growth for your clients money in spite of your misdirected allegiance to Obama.

Now I return at least my part of this thread back to the discussion of General Infrastructure and how to fund it

You'll perhaps be surprised that I favor substantial state and private infrastructure improvements -- funded through a revolving line of credit. The source of the funds being the off-shore corporate profits in the $ Trillions currently being held hostage by the absurd corporate tax rate.

Lower the corporate tax rate and let the off-shore funds be repatriated without any tax [tax amnesty?] so long as a percentage of the funds go into the infrastructure revolving line of credit. The cities, towns, counties, states and even private entities can then borrow at very low rates to fund the infrastructure work which is needed -- but which for the most part doesn't need federal meddling.

*

Pennsylvania hits another production record
August 19, 2014 12:30 AM
By Anya Litvak / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Gas production in Pennsylvania continued to hit records, with 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas coming out of the ground during the first half of the year, according to new data released from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Monday. That's a 14 percent increase over the previous six-month period when operators pulled 1.7 trillion cubic feet of gas out of the ground. A year ago it was closer to 1.4 trillion.

About 510 new wells came online during the reporting period.

http://powersource.post-gazette.com...and-grace-under-pressure/stories/201501010002