Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

..and I'm afraid that's the temporary utility bridge (I got all excited at the thought of that being the new Ball Sq road bridge)
 
Still no vertical progress on the Broadway bridge. I can’t see how they will make the March deadline for reopening it.
 
"The City of Somerville Traffic Commission approved a proposal to restrict the issuance of parking permits to future residents of new development located within walking distance to a rapid transit station of the MBTA’s Red, Orange, or Green Line services at its latest meeting on Thursday, December 12.... Walking distance is considered to be a ten-minute walk and the area of a city within that distance is referred to as a “Transit Area.”

www.thesomervilletimes.com

City proposes parking permit restrictions near transit stations

www.thesomervilletimes.com www.thesomervilletimes.com
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Source:https://sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2016/01/Bacon_Olivia_GIS101_2016.pdf
 
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Vagabond said:
"The City of Somerville Traffic Commission approved a proposal to restrict the issuance of parking permits to future residents of new development located within walking distance to a rapid transit station of the MBTA’s Red, Orange, or Green Line services at its latest meeting on Thursday, December 12.... Walking distance is considered to be a ten-minute walk and the area of a city within that distance is referred to as a “Transit Area.”

www.thesomervilletimes.com

City proposes parking permit restrictions near transit stations

www.thesomervilletimes.com www.thesomervilletimes.com
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This should probably go under the housing thread, although that’s much less read than the transit pages so i can see leaving it here...
Anyway, this is exactly the sort of thing I’ve been saying boston should’ve been doing for years. Prevent new developments from giving permits. Would blow the parking issues used by residents to block developments right out of the water.
 
FK4 said:
This should probably go under the housing thread, although that’s much less read than the transit pages so i can see leaving it here...
Anyway, this is exactly the sort of thing I’ve been saying boston should’ve been doing for years. Prevent new developments from giving permits. Would blow the parking issues used by residents to block developments right out of the water.
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I get the logic here, but passing rules that say, basically, newcomers into the city aren't eligible to receive the same city services as incumbent residents makes me more than a little nervous. NIMBYs also oppose new developments on the grounds that they will supposedly crowd public schools; should residents of new developments be prevented from using that service too?

When she was California AG Kamala Harris wrote an opinion based on CA law that "local authorities may generally establish resident-only parking programs, but may not distinguish among residents based on the type of dwelling in which they live." I get where she was coming from, and wouldn't be shocked if the Mass AG gets involved in something like this too.
 
JumboBuc said:
I get the logic here, but passing rules that say, basically, newcomers into the city aren't eligible to receive the same city services as incumbent residents makes me more than a little nervous. NIMBYs also oppose new developments on the grounds that they will supposedly crowd public schools; should residents of new developments be prevented from using that service too?

When she was California AG Kamala Harris wrote an opinion based on CA law that "local authorities may generally establish resident-only parking programs, but may not distinguish among residents based on the type of dwelling in which they live." I get where she was coming from, and wouldn't be shocked if the Mass AG gets involved in something like this too.
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My understanding is this comes with a major liberalization of zoning laws in other areas, which should make it more difficult for NIMBYs to block something since many projects won't need a special permit.
 
JumboBuc said:
I get the logic here, but passing rules that say, basically, newcomers into the city aren't eligible to receive the same city services as incumbent residents makes me more than a little nervous. NIMBYs also oppose new developments on the grounds that they will supposedly crowd public schools; should residents of new developments be prevented from using that service too?

When she was California AG Kamala Harris wrote an opinion based on CA law that "local authorities may generally establish resident-only parking programs, but may not distinguish among residents based on the type of dwelling in which they live." I get where she was coming from, and wouldn't be shocked if the Mass AG gets involved in something like this too.
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If they need to restrict the number of passes in circulation can't they just start charging for them/charge higher rates on a yearly basis?
 
sneijder said:
If they need to restrict the number of passes in circulation can't they just start charging for them/charge higher rates on a yearly basis?
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Because then we circle back to the congestion zone argument: What would we do with low-income auto users who don't have a choice?

A different approach could be to phase down all passes in the zone over time. Older cars are grandfathered in but new cars are limited to one per household or unit at most. That or making second or third vehicles exponentially cost more. At a certain point, if a neighborhood can attract car free/car limited residents, let them.
 
FWIW...the latest Google Maps refresh now shows a couple of the pieces of the Brickbottom viaduct decking in place as steel skeleton. The satellite landscape is visibly changing to look like something transit-bearing is finally starting to piece itself together over there.
 
Reconstruction starts soon on the Lechmere Viaduct. Does the Viaducts' drawspan still work? Does it need to?

In 23 years in Boston, I think I have seen the roadway drawspan open once, maybe twice. Never the rail span.
 
Arlington said:
Reconstruction starts soon on the Lechmere Viaduct. Does the Viaducts' drawspan still work? Does it need to?

In 23 years in Boston, I think I have seen the roadway drawspan open once, maybe twice. Never the rail span.
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The roadway draw opens fairly frequently in the summer months. On weekends several times each day. I have never seen or heard of the rail span opening in the last decade. I think it's more of a relic than a draw that's expected to function.
 
Arlington said:
So sailboats need to clear under the Green Line?
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I don't think any sailboats with masts that large sail into the river. How high is the viaduct compared to the max clearance for the North Station draws (which raise angled), or the locks walkway? It may well be moot if the Green Line viaduct as as high or higher than limiters closer to the harbor.
 
George_Apley said:
The roadway draw opens fairly frequently in the summer months. On weekends several times each day. I have never seen or heard of the rail span opening in the last decade. I think it's more of a relic than a draw that's expected to function.
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It is a relic. Welded rail and overhead wire are continuous across the former draw span, utility conduits have been laid under the tracks across it, and the machine room in one of the towers (which had a RR.net photo tour by late great BSRA officer Paul Joyce which I can't find at the moment) is derelict. Coast Guard maritime jurisdiction ends at the Charles Dam, so they were able to stealth-retire it some decades ago (after a much longer period of no openings) at no change to maritime regs and cap Charles Basin's height limit at the level of the closed position. I don't know when the last time was that it actually opened...probably well in excess of 50 years ago. The really narrow passage on N. Washington St. swing bridge + the North Station draws discouraged most tall-mast traffic before it ever got as far upstream as the Viaduct, so after about the first 15 years of operation when the North Station draws were all renewed to their modern equivalents the rate of Viaduct openings had already been slashed back to near-nonexistence.
 
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