Grand Prix of Boston

Arenacale said:
Here's what was presented to the Fort Point Neighborhood Association this past week: http://www.pdf.investintech.com/preview/5abd3ea0-c507-11e5-9555-002590d31986/index.html
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the design center has at least a couple hundred people who bike commute there (both personal bike and Hubway) - the proposed SL2 route will just make Hubway a lot more enticing during the construction period - they'll have to add a couple more stations over by dry dock - they can barely keep up with demand as it is.
 
Does Hubway place stations or expand capacity for special events like a Grand Prix? I seem to remember them actually withdrawing service along the marathon route.
 
Quite a lot of information presented this evening at the latest (second?) IndyCarBoston community meeting, held at the BCEC.

Toward the end, someone asked what would happen to the railroad tracks at Cypher St and the South Boston Bypass, and at the Massport Haul Road where the road goes in under the Convention Center, both located on the race route. This is the DMU Track 61 rail that's been proposed as a "quick" route from Back Bay to the Seaport District.


The IndyCarBoston transportation consultant said they would either pave over the tracks ... or remove them.

I did a double take and asked loudly, "Did you just say remove them?" One of the other presenters turned to me and said, "They haven't been used in years."

... developing
 
Couple things.

* Start and finish both now at same spot, on the South Boston Bypass Road near Cypher Street (behind Channel Street). This is a change from when it was going to end on D Street. No specific reason given for the change - I dunno.

* The Channel Street residents aren't happy about the race - it's not clear if they would be against it no matter what or if they just want "mitigation" (Read: money), similar to what the Seaport Lofts residents received. I don't know if they'd be happier if the start/finish lines were moved or if it doesn't matter. I told the IndyCar guy they should move both to D Street because we all rent over here and the Seaport Loft people have already been "mitigated" so there's no one to complain. He said he'd be happy to go back to the race organizers to tell them but I don't know what he meant by that. It doesn't seem like it's likely to happen. I don't know why the change - the city didn't want it? The state?

The pit is also located near the corners of Bypass Road and Cypher St, and that can't change no matter what because D Street isn't wide enough (or, the area around D, I mean) so they can't move it over here. I guess they don't want it down on Fargo or Tide streets (no audience there?) and not sure if they even could.

* I think they kind of told a fib, or maybe I just heard them wrong last time they presented. I swear they said it would be a five-week set-up and a three-week tear-down ... but now there's a "three-month" prep period. The difference is, the three months is inclusive of all the street prep, etc. The five weeks ahead of the event is putting up the barriers and grandstands, etc. Three months seems like the amount of time it would take but they sure didn't mention that before. Barriers won't go up though til ... I think 28 days (maybe 21 days) before the race, so that's within the earlier timeframe.

* They haven't signed an agreement / approval documents with the MCCA to go underneath the BCEC - which is one of the things they want since it is what happens in other cities, I guess. The MCCA insurance adjuster has the paperwork, I guess, and doesn't think there will be any problem.

* They're going to rip up the trees on Congress Street along the raceway. They'll replace them after the race ... or, put replacement trees in planters to make it easier to remove for next year's race.

* Boston Bypass Road will be closed all weekend.

* Not determined if the race needs a complete environmental review. Their proposal is in front of MEPA. They don't believe there's a need.

* Good news! First day of event is "Freedom Friday" with events honoring first responders, the military, and their families / kids. Maybe you can ride in a tank.

* There are apparently several (three?) cruise ships in port that weekend, so potentially 6,000 tourists disembarking. (Remember when the organizers said this was a "slow weekend" in Boston?)

* Congress Street median gets removed (along with trees, above) but replaced, afterward

* Silver Line continues to run on Congress Street all weekend; this is possible b/c of the four lanes on Congress - left (looking toward city) two stay open; right two are for race. (I am skeptical this is going to happen - at least, 24-7. Can you imagine being on one of those buses while cars going 120 mph are driving by?). There will be changes to the above-ground Silver Line route, though.

* Meaning, the stop at Silver Line Way is going away for the entire weekend, so those people getting on/off here will have to get on/off at World Trade Center. Some of the electric concatenated line will be "relocated" according to a slide I saw.

* Barriers go up 18 days before race day.

* Seeing the overheard slide on current Silver Line route just made me want to break into tears. So convoluted.

* Jersey barriers are being brought in now, but won't go up until 3 months before, at the earliest. The barriers will be taken down after the race and stored where they are now - some site inside the BMIP. (Only like 6 barriers at one time can fit on a truck so it makes no sense to cart in and out every year.)

* One guy who lives at Park Lane Seaport was practically in tears because his dog won't have anywhere to shit for three days - access to the dog park in that area (which I think is just a median strip?) will be closed. I think they offered euthanasia as mitigation.

* Grandstand locations are picked out but I don't have them on a map. So are "pedestrian access points" where people can go. There are jersey barriers all around, of course, and curtains on much of the fencing along the way (what's the word I'm looking for) so that people can't stop walking and just stare at the race, blocking foot traffic.

* BPD is coordinating the event with Mass State Police and Massport Police and Transit Police (natch) because ... Boston.

* Mass Pike coming into South Boston Waterfront (Exit 25 East?) will be open the entire time, although when you come out of the tunnel you'll have to go straight to Seaport Blvd (where Whiskey Priest is located) - not right onto Congress.

* Silver Line Way will be "widened"; not sure what this means - like, tearing up sidewalks widened or what. That might be where the concatenate line is relocated and the median strip removed? So widened b/c the median is gone?

* Cypher Street will be "widened"; apparently it is approximately 27-feet wide and they will make it 40-feet wide (there aren't any sidewalks on that road, there's a sort of side of road breakdown lane. That's what will be included in the widening. I think the widening will be done on the BCEC side of Cypher since it's flat there and since they own that part - the other side of the street has a fence and private owners.

* Paddock area will be located inside the BCEC (I don't know what a paddock is ...)

* It is NOT last race of the season; they go to Sonoma for next weekend's final race.

* There will be Jumbotrons(R) for viewing - mostly visible to people in stands, I think?

* Ticket sales dates were not announced.

* They will build a new 1st Street connector to the South Boston Bypass for use that weekend, only. After the race, it will either be blocked off so it can't be used until the next year's race or removed/made unusable. Looking at the map, it appears they want a road here to make it easier to get to/from South Boston by way of 1st Street instead of having to go up to D Street and loop around, doubling your trip and increasing traffic.

* I didn't hear anyone ask about parking at BCEC. I assume you will be able to, although how they manage that, I don't know. Do you have to have VIP parking tickets? Seems that a lot of the spaces would be wanted by people who work there, work for the city/state, VIPS, and invited dignitaries.

* The IndyCar people have to meet with the city of Boston's Public Improvement Commission for their approval, and that's scheduled to happen at the beginning of March.

* What will be left behind was a question several attendees had. One wanted to know if there would be any improvements / benefits as a result of the race. The wider Cypher Street might be considered a benefit to some - especially if they were willing to put in a crosswalk or a sidewalk and pay for it. Someone suggested that the IndyCar people pay to build a new fire station in the Seaport.

* A bicyclist was there, unfortunately. He asked about the bike lane on D Street and could improvements be made to it as a result of the race coming through - like, improvements the organizers might pay for. They did no commit. He also asked about the lack of a path on Congress.

That issue might run into the topic being talked about above - apparently, plans for a cycle track (meaning, a separate, segregated lane) have disappeared from the city's (BRA's) documents for the neighborhood. The Fort Pointer on Twitter has been trying to find out what happened - and, who did it. Did their removal have anything to do with the IndyCar race and the inconvenience of having to dig up and then replace the track every September (at least for five years). I don't know.

* Words out of one organizer's mouth when someone asked if the Ted Williams Tunnel was at risk of collapsing due to vibrations inside the tunnel: "Walls aren't going to fall down." Let's get his name, just in case they do.

* Several garages will be inaccessible; others will be accessible at certain times. There are at least 3 Zipcar lots that may be off-limits so plans might be coming together to add some options elsewhere in the neighborhood. We've been told we can access cars in our garage here at Flats on D in the evenings and during the day on request but it sounded as though the people at Waterside wouldn't be able to get in their cars at all, all weekend. There will be off-site parking for any garage where access is limited or forbidden.

* Typical car weighs 1,600 lbs. 600 horsepower

* Ramps, those that will be closed at different times, will all be open in the evenings, from what I could gather. Which ramps, where, and for how long, those ramps will be closed, they kind of know but it wasn't easy to understand. There wasn't one sheet of information on this.

* March 16 is next public meeting, location TBD
 
If this race results in roads being widened and bicycle tracks and lanes being disappeared then it should be stopped.
 
JohnAKeith said:
* Silver Line continues to run on Congress Street all weekend; this is possible b/c of the four lanes on Congress - left (looking toward city) two stay open; right two are for race. (I am skeptical this is going to happen - at least, 24-7. Can you imagine being on one of those buses while cars going 120 mph are driving by?).
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I can't believe that they'd be doing this. Any unused space on Congress is going to be prime real estate for grand stands. What did the map show?

JohnAKeith said:
* BPD is coordinating the event with Mass State Police and Massport Police and Transit Police (natch) because ... Boston.
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Four police agencies. Only in Boston.

JohnAKeith said:
* Mass Pike coming into South Boston Waterfront (Exit 25 East?) will be open the entire time, although when you come out of the tunnel you'll have to go straight to Seaport Blvd (where Whiskey Priest is located) - not right onto Congress.
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I don't understand how this is possible, that would bring cars straight across the active track.

JohnAKeith said:
He also asked about the lack of a path on Congress.

That issue might run into the topic being talked about above - apparently, plans for a cycle track (meaning, a separate, segregated lane) have disappeared from the city's (BRA's) documents for the neighborhood. The Fort Pointer on Twitter has been trying to find out what happened - and, who did it. Did their removal have anything to do with the IndyCar race and the inconvenience of having to dig up and then replace the track every September (at least for five years). I don't know.
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I don't recall the plan ever showing anything for Congress. The Boston Bikes Network Plan website shows cycle track for Summer, bike lanes for Seaport. Congress doesn't really go anywhere useful for a cyclist that one of those two routes doesn't also serve.
 
Thanks for the summary JohnAKeith! Most importantly, did you get your country music tickets for attending?

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Scipio said:
Thanks for the summary JohnAKeith! Most importantly, did you get your country music tickets for attending?
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That offer of tickets was made in error and has been retracted:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/02/foes_rip_indy_for_bribe

A bit of hyperbole to call it a bribe, though I have always understood it to be an unspoken rule that beyond coffee for small gatherings, one should never offer freebies to attendees of public meetings where opinion is known to be divided. Accusations will inevitably fly that you're trying to stack the deck, however hyperbolic they may end up sounding. So it's now described as a well-meaning but over enthusiastic offer from a young staffer, so sorry, never mind. Fair enough way to brush it off (though I hope if it wasn't actually some young staffer's idea that they aren't playing out the fake blame game with an actual young staffer).

More interestingly, to me anyways, the article then gets into the environmental review question. They quote from the organizers' letter to the Executive Office for Energy and Environmental affairs, in which they argued the event doesn't meet the threshold for MEPA review. I had seen that letter reported before, so that's not news, nor is the threshold assertion.

However, another quote from the letter was "We are considering the race a one-time event, although if successful it could be extended an additional four years...” I had not seen the organizers hedging on the follow-on years like that. I might have missed it, haven't been following this so closely. Is this something they've been saying publicly elsewhere? That years two through five are still tbd? I had been under the impression that they'd been pretty gung-ho of making a full five year run at it. And of course anything planned for five years can crater, I understand that. I'm talking about what they've been signaling; have I been missing this hedging?
 
My complaint about the Grand Prix (which I support, with reservations) is that the organizers / city are doing things without the benefit of having time for full community involvement, like you'd have in a typical situation. This was my complaint with the Olympics - would things have been done "in the best interests" of the city or just because we needed them for the Games?

It's less relevant for the Grand Prix because the neighborhood is mostly light industrial, et al. Does it really matter if Cypher Street is widened four feet? Almost everyone would say no. But, in a typical situation, it would be the center of a conversation, at least.

Of course, allowing conversations about such small things can become major disasters, with anyone and everyone chiming in, and nothing getting done.

Another example is the medians on D Street. Apparently, there had been talk of taking them up, anyway, once the hotels were built, but if not for the Grand Prix, would there have been more time for comment and a discussion?
 
Another month has passed and no tickets yet on sale (Awaiting "MOUs" they say - no idea.)

Twitter updated twice this month.

Twitter account has 1,000 followers (I have 1,200, in comparison).

Things are going swimmingly!
 
Scipio said:
Great summary of the whole thing from a serious racing blogger, which is a perspective I haven't seen before.

http://theracingscribe.com/2016/03/20/what-is-going-on-in-boston/
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Interesting read from an unusual angle, thanks for finding and posting it.

The article was a bit weak in not clarifying that the slow-to-approve "local agencies", which were only partially and parenthetically named, are at the State level. That is to say, above the Mayor's level of authority. They kept using that phrase "local agencies", but that seems to me to most often mean agencies at the municipal level. I could see readers scratching their heads and thinking, "why can't the Mayor of Boston get those local agencies to respond?" Which would be a fair question, but the real question is, "Why didn't the Mayor talk to those state (not local) agencies in advance of signing an agreement?"

Same observation on the Olympics tie-in. The writer went into that fiasco at some length, but mainly from the public relations angle. Never really clarified that then, as with this race, the Mayor made a big splash public announcement in support of an event that would require substantial state buy-in, and did so before having that buy-in lined up.
 
Now the US EPA is weighing in on the toxic waste site along Cypher Street:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/co.../03/battenfeld_indycar_course_hits_more_bumps.

Although the site is capped with pavement and owned / used by the conventions center for parking, the EPA considers building a race track over it to be a change of use that triggers environmental review. Article says the landowner, MCCA, needs to submit the environmental review, not the race organizers.

The usual back & forth about whether there's been sufficient communication.

[EPA spokesman Jim] Murphy said the EPA recently told the city and MCCA they need to submit a plan soon, because approval could take weeks or months, potentially delaying construction. The EPA spokesman said it’s likely the agency would approve race track construction if the paving doesn’t disturb the ground underneath, but the MCCA and promoters need to ensure the safety of the site.

“What we don’t want to happen is for them to say we need it tomorrow,” he said.

Grand Prix of Boston disputed that they haven’t consulted with the EPA, saying their engineers and lawyers have been talking to the agency’s PCB coordinator since December, as well as the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency.
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EPA offered a pretty clear olive leaf on whether they’d potentially approve the race course, but that olive leaf came with a pretty clear shot across the bow on timing. With the time needed for this review and course construction, someone needs to submit something pretty soon. A little over five months until Labor Day, with some of that needed for construction and now some needed for EPA review. It’s gonna get late fast.

[As an aside: I think there's another potential toxic site where W 1st St will get punched thru to the haul road for the temporary truck bypass during the race. That site doesn't seem to be the focus of this article, unless the Herald got confused about what site is being discussed.]
 
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