General Infrastructure

I'd imagine something like this is in the works for the Sumner?
(Probably cut the onramp width. I sketched this quickly with path tools.)
sZYgr.jpg
 
sm89 said:
There is a larger project for this intersection that involves making it much more compact and adding greenspace, height detection infrastructure, etc. Last I checked it is still being designed, so that is probably why there are no materials showing the final condition.
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Eastie got their own presentation on this in mid-October:

http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/8/docs/aet/presentation_101716.pdf

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Shooting for Spring 2017 construction. I hope they're considering making that newly-expanded plot available for developers instead of letting it collect weeds.
 
Lots of cheaters are going to take a left from the stop line located at the red arrow indicated by the number 2
 
Arlington said:
Lots of cheaters are going to take a left from the stop line located at the red arrow indicated by the number 2
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Maybe put a "cheater" toll gantry at the stop line.

If you register on that reader, and then enter the tunnel you pay a triple toll. They won't cheat for very long.
 
^ Any reason they couldn't fit 5 or 6 triple-deckers on all that reclaimed land?
 
Equilibria said:
Don't think so, but you're more likely to get another 6-story apartment block.
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And it is not exactly prime real estate, given the proximity to all the highway ramps.

Note all the open air parking lots in the aerial -- gives you a sense of how strong the development pressure is for the location right there.
 
JeffDowntown said:
And it is not exactly prime real estate, given the proximity to all the highway ramps.

Note all the open air parking lots in the aerial -- gives you a sense of how strong the development pressure is for the location right there.
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Not enough street parking so the need off-street parking.
 
JeffDowntown said:
And it is not exactly prime real estate, given the proximity to all the highway ramps.

Note all the open air parking lots in the aerial -- gives you a sense of how strong the development pressure is for the location right there.
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The removal of the toll plaza should make that immediate area feel less highway ramp-y. And "not exactly prime real estate" is exactly where we should be building "not exactly luxury" housing. Also, most of the parking lot space in that aerial is City land, so market forces don't really apply.

Location-wise, it's less than a half a mile from TWO Blue Line stations and directly across from all the stores (grocery, pharmacy, etc.) in Eastie's Central Square.

Digital_Islandboy said:
Not enough street parking so the need off-street parking.
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This is true for practically every single building constructed anywhere in Greater Boston. Thanks, zoning...
 
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Equilibria said:
Eastie got their own presentation on this in mid-October:



156y0jq.png


Shooting for Spring 2017 construction. I hope they're considering making that newly-expanded plot available for developers instead of letting it collect weeds.
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Wow awesome thanks for tracking that down. Incredibly, I think one lane for 1A could actually work - after all there's only a single lane coming past airport station (all the rest go to the Ted) + cars exiting the airport to contend with. And in the worst of the AM the backup is continuous all the way from Haymarket and Levrett Circle anyway, so this isn't exactly a bottleneck

The parcel on the left is State Police, so ....probably more parking for Staties?


FWIW on the outbound side there really needs to be a small-dot line (at the least - maybe some surface articulation too) in the right lane between the havre st onramp and the airport exit to make it clear that traffic entering the highway has it's own acceleration lane (there are three lanes there - two from the tunnel and the 3rd should be acceleration and then merge for the airport)....as it is most people entering there wait forever for a break in the traffic from the tunnel to be simultaneous with a break in offramp traffic because they think they have zero merge toom
 
Arlington said:
Lots of cheaters are going to take a left from the stop line located at the red arrow indicated by the number 2
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wouldnt there just be one gantry to the south spanning the 2 lanes as they enter the tunnel?
 
JumboBuc said:
The removal of the toll plaza should make that immediate area feel less highway ramp-y. And "not exactly prime real estate" is exactly where we should be building "not exactly luxury" housing. Also, most of the parking lot space in that aerial is City land, so market forces don't really apply.

Location-wise, it's less than a half a mile from TWO Blue Line stations and directly across from all the stores (grocery, pharmacy, etc.) in Eastie's Central Square.
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This I agree with, which is a reason for the City to part with some of this public land for public good like affordable and workforce housing (something other than parking).
 
BKNA said:
wouldnt there just be one gantry to the south spanning the 2 lanes as they enter the tunnel?
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Yeah, but those don't take up a lot of space. With only 1 lane to cover the transponder/camera assembly can be hung one of those hanging traffic light gantries that only needs one pole.

The lane drop will be good for traffic sorting. There's always a little bit of a slowdown right at the portal where the shoulders disappear and the lane marker goes double-solid stripe with no passing allowed. That's a little bit of a problem here with how quickly the lane mashup has to happen between booths + neighborhood onramp and the portal. Sumner should inflow almost as well as the Callahan outflows under the new lane setup.
 
regardless of where they will be placed (seems like it would be hard to have them near the signals without picking up vehicles headed straight into Central Sq), the point is there will not be a way to cheat and avoid the toll.
 
The MASSDOT proposal bothers me because it narrows down Route 1a to one lane before it enters the Sumner tunnel. I'd prefer two lanes, and also move the northbound 1A to make developable land to the east. Here's my idea:

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I prefer the state's plan. The merge to one lane will also serve to slow traffic as it comes off the freeway and prepares to make the left turn into the tunnel. I think it would be very dangerous to try to maintain two lanes through that left curve followed immediately I buy a bunch of merging.
 
BKNA said:
wouldnt there just be one gantry to the south spanning the 2 lanes as they enter the tunnel?
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Not toll cheaters, I was referring to line-jumpers who would try to run around the lane drop and then cut back in front of it.
 
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