Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Washington st
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underpass sidewalk open
 
I wonder why they did the temporary asphalt sidewalk in the first photo.
 
Is a 7' chain-link fence really necessary, or is that temporary?
Why not just a 42" tube railing. Something that looks at least somewhat intentional instead of just an afterthought...
 
Is a 7' chain-link fence really necessary, or is that temporary?
Why not just a 42" tube railing. Something that looks at least somewhat intentional instead of just an afterthought...
yea, great that this is open but the high fence is a bit extreme. What's the thinking behind that, are they worried about people chucking crap at passing cars?
 
yea, great that this is open but the high fence is a bit extreme. What's the thinking behind that, are they worried about people chucking crap at passing cars?
I bet there are rules for how high a path is above a road, or how close to a road before you need chain link (picturing a lot of paths-over-streets bridges, such as the Minuteman's bridges over little streets in Arlington, including this one, which has both a tall fence on the bike bridge above, and chain link on the "high sidewalk" on the sides
 
Washington st View attachment 8361View attachment 8362underpass sidewalk open
Did any of you actually use this underpass before? This is light-years better, although I do wish that they had shifted the bike lane to the pedestrian level and added a small staircase on this side of the road to the community path. For historical reference...
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And I'm with @chmeeee - the East Somerville station location/access in particular is a mess. BUT - these are all relatively cheap to address after the start of operation.
 

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^ Seen above, they've removed the old section of School Street that had been "bridge-ified" (under-mined/back-mined?) and have also removed the old granite stone retaining wall that had temporarily supporteded it during undermining.

How are they going to re-bridge that? I see the "new" bridge cantilevered out from its new pier between the GLX & CR. How does this come together?
 
They removed the southern granite abutment, and they will be replacing it with a new concrete one. The back span will bridge that and the new southern abutment, while allowing one of the two GL tracks to pass underneath.
 
Wanted to note that in the near future, the Somerville Redevelopment Authority will be fully transferring to the MBTA the station parcel. The air rights above the station appear to be reserved by the Somerville Redevelopment Authority for future use. However, apparently the agreement to this point between the SRA, the US2 developers, and the MBTA was for the MBTA to hold an easement on the parcel. However, US2 appears to have gotten concerned about carrying the liability of MBTA for the station, the operations, etc. and thus the SRA will convey the land to the T.

* Information is based on the SRA November meeting recording.
 

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