General Infrastructure

[dhawkins]

Good news! Derne Street, the street behind the State House has finally been paved!!! I have never seen it paved, its always been potholes and patches. Of course it has not been striped in any way. I thought for sure they would have tried to get a bike lane in there.

 

[dhawkins]

I-93 was built from the state line to Middlesex Fells in Medford by 1963, but the rest connecting to the Central Artery didn't open until 1973 because of the whole fight over whether the I-695 Inner Belt was going to connect to it. Prior to its completion you had to ride Route 28 into town. Fellsway and McGrath Highway are so overbuilt for high-speed cars in large part because they were load-bearing for north commutes pre-93, and stayed that way post-93 because the Central Artery's deficiencies backed up traffic so severely on the completed 93. It's only now post-Big Dig that volumes on 28 have dropped enough that places like Somerville can seriously entertain road dieting.

The first Stroads of New England

 

[shawnp]

Last week construction began on replacing the intersection (quasi-rotary?) at Alewife Brook Parkway and Powerhouse Boulevard with a traffic signal.

ConstructionMeeting_02_01_23.pdf

 

[JohnAKeith]

Thank you! I hope to hear from my good friend Van Houten (I forget) about this, too.

It's interesting to think what would have happened if they never connected I-93 to the Central Artery. Like an alternate reality like if the Nazis had won WWII.

I am old enough to remember the "Merge" of Route 1 and Route 93. In fact, my Driver's Ed instructor was famous for taking drivers through it on their first day of class. The terror. Fortunately, that day I was in the back seat while someone else suffered driving. (Remember when the Driver's Ed instructor had a separate set of controls on his/her side of the car??!)

 

[#bancars]

Boston has released its Charles Street Study as part of Connect Downtown.

https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/file/2023/02/2023-02%20Understanding%20Charles%20Street.pdf

 

[greenlinetobrooklyn]

Boston has released its Charles Street Study as part of Connect Downtown.

https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/file/2023/02/2023-02%20Understanding%20Charles%20Street.pdf

10% of double parking during their study was over an hour. how (rhetorical) the hell can someone leave their car parked in traffic lane for over an hour and not face any consequences?!

 

[stick n move]

Didnt know where to put this.

Changes Coming to Jamaica Plain’s Arborway Parkway

“Matthew Jasmin, a senior civil engineer with Howard Stein Hudson, presented a 3-D model detailing street interventions along the parkway which include reconfiguring Kelley Circle near Jamaica Pond to a mini roundabout and signalized intersection at the main barrel (the main road running in between the two side carriageways).

Further down near the northwest corner of the Arnold Arboretum, the project calls for converting Murray Circle, where the Arborway and Centre Street meet, to a signalized intersection.

According to the 2019 Road Safety Audit, 31 crashes were reported at Kelley Circle and Pond Street and an additional 44 crashes were reported at the Murray Circle and Centre Street at Arborway intersection between 2015 and 2017.

Jasmin says one of the core elements the team has tried to maintain with this design is, “respect for the Olmstead vision of both providing safe spaces for multiple modes of travel and also looking to respect some of the historic areas that have stayed in their current form since the original design back in the early 1900’s, late 1800’s..."

https://mass.streetsblog.org/2022/12/30/changes-coming-to-jamaica-plains-arborway-parkway/

 

[Smuttynose]

The City has received a federal grant to plan for the construction of a park over the Mass Pike in Chinatown adjacent to the Josiah Quincy School between Washington and Shawmut Ave. (parcel 21 on the map below --

Boston Plans New Parkland to Bridge the Turnpike’s Scar Through Chinatown
https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/0...-bridge-the-turnpikes-scar-through-chinatown/

 

[stick n move]

“and prepare design guidelines for Parcels 19, 20, and 22 to link the surrounding streets and facilities."

Well ill be damned!

 

[devnull]

This looks like a planning/design grant; what are the chances they find money (or a private developer partner) to actually construct something once they have a plan?

 

[Charlie_mta]

This looks like a planning/design grant; what are the chances they find money (or a private developer partner) to actually construct something once they have a plan?

Maybe the City can apply for construction $$ to USDOT's Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program. They already received the planning/design grant through that program.

 

[Delvin4519]

Fellsway West, Mystic Avenue, and McGrath Hwy project redesign slides/presentation:

https://www.mass.gov/doc/massdot-hearing-presentation-somerville-030123/download

Probably should be a thread dedicated to "Transforming Boston's stroads"

Right now it's a terriyfying dangerous concrete jungle

 

[Jahvon09]

More second-guessing of state’s I-90 Allston work - CommonWealth Magazine

A correction has been added to this story. STATE TRANSPORTATION officials on Wednesday moved forward with a plan to spend nearly $86 million shoring up a crumbling elevated section of the Massachusetts Turnpike between Boston University and the Charles River before tearing it down and replacing...

commonwealthmagazine.org

 

[dhawkins]

More second-guessing of state’s I-90 Allston work - CommonWealth Magazine

A correction has been added to this story. STATE TRANSPORTATION officials on Wednesday moved forward with a plan to spend nearly $86 million shoring up a crumbling elevated section of the Massachusetts Turnpike between Boston University and the Charles River before tearing it down and replacing...

commonwealthmagazine.org

I'm sure it will take 10 years to over excavate and remove bad soil and remove any contaminated soil, bring in tons of gravel, set all the drainage structures, and set 3 layers of concrete and pavement just under the viaduct! Better to make sure the existing span stays in place before something detrimental happens in the middle of new construction.

 

[Blackbird]

I'm sure it will take 10 years to over excavate and remove bad soil and remove any contaminated soil, bring in tons of gravel, set all the drainage structures, and set 3 layers of concrete and pavement just under the viaduct! Better to make sure the existing span stays in place before something detrimental happens in the middle of new construction.

But the article says the deconstruction of the viaduct could happen in parallel with the construction of the new turnpike design.

I think I’m on the side of not kicking the can further down the road.

 

[Jahvon09]

Most of Boston's roads, streets & highways are the pits. Literally!! Ever have the tires of your car hit a pothole? That must feel terrible!! Imagine the cost that you might have to pay out to get a tire repaired or replaced. The problems with the Mass Pike in that area has been a plague for years, & it has become what is now known as a years-long Big-Dig-style project. Seems to be no easy fix or end to resolve this issue with it.

 

[GW2500]

Looks like the Zakim is all it's cracked up to be

Mike Greanwhel went 'Yikes' yesterday on a walk under the Zakim Bridge, when he noticed not just cracks in support-beam concrete but exposed rebar. Read more.

www.universalhub.com

 

[king_vibe]

Looks like the Zakim is all it's cracked up to be

Mike Greanwhel went 'Yikes' yesterday on a walk under the Zakim Bridge, when he noticed not just cracks in support-beam concrete but exposed rebar. Read more.

www.universalhub.com

These cracks don’t even rise to level of being superficial. It’s journalistic malfeasance to publish things like this.