Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

The opposition for "Phase II" so-to-speak was for an additional infill stop at Winthrop St. to flank the west end of Tufts campus. The Medford residents immediately adjacent to the station site kvetched about it, and it was deleted. In reality it wasn't that big a loss because the stop spacing from College Ave. to 16 merely went from slightly too short to slightly too long...but not off-scale in any meaningful way. The 3 buses on Boston Ave. still give very adequate coverage spanning the stops.

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West Med was deleted way early on. The NIMBY'ism right by the station-proper was mild, but a bunch of hardcores out by Mystic Lakes and Wedgemere piled on the hysteria ("undesireables" blah blah blah) at town meetings and destabilized the whole works. But that was back in the stone age of 2005.

Crossing 16 & the Mystic would've added cost, but the Lowell Line arches could've easily been doubled-up with exact replicas. Bigger operational problems were the grade crossings. Canal St. probably would've needed to be closed because (despite lowish traffic) the sightlines aren't good at all for a 6-min. headway traffic saturation in addition to all future RR traffic increases. That crossing already has quadrant gates and plastic barriers for its relative danger. And the line would've had to stub out prior to the High St. crossing, requiring pretty cramped confines around the platforms, lousy egresses, property taking of the Dunkies parking lot, and residential impacts on Circuit St.

West Med's an easier mount when the time comes to finally grade separate the full RR...which will be a de facto build prerequisite of NSRL if the Lowell Line is expected to pair-match with the NEC to the south, or will be necessary at some point deeper into the RER area as traffic increases get intolerable. Half-undercut/half-overpass @ Canal coming off the Mystic, bottoming out into a full cut @ High. Since the ROW is 4-track width here due to a prehistoric thicket of freight sidings that used to be around Canal, and the West Med CR platforms are basically sitting on those 3rd/4th berths, the cut would be pre-provisioned for an equally grade separated GLX extension side-by-side. You would merely add the Mystic+16 bridges to connect. And possibly re-do 16 Station again up atop the embankment per the original future-proofing plan if now they're set on Phase II scaling back to a barebones ground-level stop.

The only catch with the RR grade separation future-proofing plan is that there would not be enough room to have West Med CR and GLX platforms together down in the cut. The GLX extension would have to eat the commuter rail stop...but that's not a big deal as a lot of ridership is going to migrate down the street from West Med CR to Route 16 GL to begin with and flip the mode shares accordingly. Getting there via the RR cut would also serve up a straight shot to extending the line further to at least the Winchester Ctr. parking lot (furthest you can go without budgeting for a short 1000 ft. subway under the Winch rotary). Path would be clear so long as the same GL-eats-CR platform scenario happened at Wedgemere, so you could think of the more distant-future RR grade separation as loading up for bear for an additional +3 (or +4 if you want a Mystic Lakes spacer) GLX extension for some multimodal goodness.
 
Where would a Mystic Lakes spaces go, and what would its utility actually be? The north end of Pine Ridge Road maybe... but it's kind of "middle of nowhere" as far as rapid transit goes.

EDIT: Realizing that this might be better in a "Design a Better Boston" thread. If someone has a thought, maybe respond there.
 
FYI, there is a meeting on GLX tonight in East Cambridge.

Wed Mar 20, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Kennedy-Longfellow School Cafeteria
158 Spring Street, Cambridge, MA 02141
https://www.mass.gov/event/glx-open...2019-03-20t183000-0400-2019-03-20t200000-0400

Some topics to be covered:
•Community Path (CPX) location and connections
•GLX station designs: Lechmere, Union Square, and East Somerville
•Design and construction update: Viaduct and walls near Lechmere Station
•Upcoming bridge closures and maintenance of traffic planning for vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles
 
Concerns are being raised about accessibility to Union Square station from the Cambridge side of the line after the scaling back of the design. https://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/n...lx-cuts-to-union-square-station-accessibility

Way too late (as a Cambridge resident). You had 2 years to insist on a Union Square station accessed from the bridge as a condition of your local aid, and you either neglected it or you got out-negotiated by the Governor's Sword of Damocles over the whole project. Denise Simmons was Mayor at the time, too, so she was in a position to demand the Secretary's time.

FWIW, for the stair access the difference between the designs is something like 75 feet extra along the bridge coming from the south - hardly a tragedy. The elevator/ramp issue is different, but an elevator can be added later.

I'm honestly surprised that Cambridge even handed over the money... the new Lechmere is being funded by DivcoWest and none of the other stations are in the city limits. Medford isn't paying anything.
 
Way too late (as a Cambridge resident). You had 2 years to insist on a Union Square station accessed from the bridge as a condition of your local aid, and you either neglected it or you got out-negotiated by the Governor's Sword of Damocles over the whole project. Denise Simmons was Mayor at the time, too, so she was in a position to demand the Secretary's time.

FWIW, for the stair access the difference between the designs is something like 75 feet extra along the bridge coming from the south - hardly a tragedy. The elevator/ramp issue is different, but an elevator can be added later.

I'm honestly surprised that Cambridge even handed over the money... the new Lechmere is being funded by DivcoWest and none of the other stations are in the city limits. Medford isn't paying anything.
And I think even Curtatone said that the elevator/ramp would be added at a later date. But for now, the station is grade level and and easy for all abilities. The people doth protesting are the same gentrifists who came in and tore the sheets off the neighborhood and now want to stop these projects because the GLX will inevitably drive them out over time.
 
The opposition for "Phase II" so-to-speak was for an additional infill stop at Winthrop St. to flank the west end of Tufts campus. The Medford residents immediately adjacent to the station site kvetched about it, and it was deleted. In reality it wasn't that big a loss because the stop spacing from College Ave. to 16 merely went from slightly too short to slightly too long...but not off-scale in any meaningful way. The 3 buses on Boston Ave. still give very adequate coverage spanning the stops.

-------------------------

West Med was deleted way early on. The NIMBY'ism right by the station-proper was mild, but a bunch of hardcores out by Mystic Lakes and Wedgemere piled on the hysteria ("undesireables" blah blah blah) at town meetings and destabilized the whole works. But that was back in the stone age of 2005.

Crossing 16 & the Mystic would've added cost, but the Lowell Line arches could've easily been doubled-up with exact replicas. Bigger operational problems were the grade crossings. Canal St. probably would've needed to be closed because (despite lowish traffic) the sightlines aren't good at all for a 6-min. headway traffic saturation in addition to all future RR traffic increases. That crossing already has quadrant gates and plastic barriers for its relative danger. And the line would've had to stub out prior to the High St. crossing, requiring pretty cramped confines around the platforms, lousy egresses, property taking of the Dunkies parking lot, and residential impacts on Circuit St.

West Med's an easier mount when the time comes to finally grade separate the full RR...which will be a de facto build prerequisite of NSRL if the Lowell Line is expected to pair-match with the NEC to the south, or will be necessary at some point deeper into the RER area as traffic increases get intolerable. Half-undercut/half-overpass @ Canal coming off the Mystic, bottoming out into a full cut @ High. Since the ROW is 4-track width here due to a prehistoric thicket of freight sidings that used to be around Canal, and the West Med CR platforms are basically sitting on those 3rd/4th berths, the cut would be pre-provisioned for an equally grade separated GLX extension side-by-side. You would merely add the Mystic+16 bridges to connect. And possibly re-do 16 Station again up atop the embankment per the original future-proofing plan if now they're set on Phase II scaling back to a barebones ground-level stop.

The only catch with the RR grade separation future-proofing plan is that there would not be enough room to have West Med CR and GLX platforms together down in the cut. The GLX extension would have to eat the commuter rail stop...but that's not a big deal as a lot of ridership is going to migrate down the street from West Med CR to Route 16 GL to begin with and flip the mode shares accordingly. Getting there via the RR cut would also serve up a straight shot to extending the line further to at least the Winchester Ctr. parking lot (furthest you can go without budgeting for a short 1000 ft. subway under the Winch rotary). Path would be clear so long as the same GL-eats-CR platform scenario happened at Wedgemere, so you could think of the more distant-future RR grade separation as loading up for bear for an additional +3 (or +4 if you want a Mystic Lakes spacer) GLX extension for some multimodal goodness.

Undesirables? You have to be shitting me. The worst place that the green line goes would be Mission Hill, and that isn't even bad. And in 2019, people can afford to live next to rapid transit stops are more well off than your average person.

And can't those undesirables just take a commuter rail train out there anyway?

And as far as an extension to Wedgemere, I don't see a need at all. Winchester isn't dense enough to warrant rapid transit service.
 
Loud mouth Medford nimbys at green line hearings were never known for their thoughtfulness. Only for their effectiveness.

And after 15 to 20 years they've aged out of anti Transit activism. But in 2005 they were a real force.
 
Undesirables? You have to be shitting me. The worst place that the green line goes would be Mission Hill, and that isn't even bad. And in 2019, people can afford to live next to rapid transit stops are more well off than your average person.

And can't those undesirables just take a commuter rail train out there anyway?

And as far as an extension to Wedgemere, I don't see a need at all. Winchester isn't dense enough to warrant rapid transit service.

I grew up in Winchester. Can confirm no rapid transit needed haha
 
Loud mouth Medford nimbys at green line hearings were never known for their thoughtfulness. Only for their effectiveness.

And after 15 to 20 years they've aged out of anti Transit activism. But in 2005 they were a real force.

Exactly, we're talking about the claims that were being made 15 years ago. It's a different story now. But they were very loud, and very effective.

As for worst place the Green Line goes, gotta be Boylston given the St. Francis House, amirite?
 
I wish there was some way to enforce “Inside of 128, transit has priority. If you you don’t like it, you can move outside of 128.”
 
Exactly, we're talking about the claims that were being made 15 years ago. It's a different story now. But they were very loud, and very effective.

As for worst place the Green Line goes, gotta be Boylston given the St. Francis House, amirite?

Maybe they were leftovers from the generation that ripped up transit in the post war era.
 
Is this activity connected to the station construction?

In any case, thanks for the great pics.
 
Is this activity connected to the station construction?

In any case, thanks for the great pics.

The focuse seems to be along the western side of the Zinc and north. Hard to get shots of the area but there is a lot of action north of the Zinc and in the Brickbottom area. (buildings demoed and site prep). Hope this helps.
 

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