Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

I'm legit surprised someone had the forethought to include this. Can you explain how this is supposed to work since I've been out of the loop for so long.

To clarify: the ghost ramp was originally part-and-parcel part of the GLX carhouse design, allowing trains going in/out-of-service at North Station or Lechmere to proceed straight on to the carhouse. Being *both* in and out directions for non-revenue to Lechmere was the reason it was designed for 2-track width and partial flat-junction. That primary objective just happened to be serendipitously compatible with future revenue-service branching off Lechmere to run to Sullivan and Chelsea as the Urban Ring NE quadrant...but the original intention was simply straightforward non-revenue moves. S.T.E.P. scrutinized it and made sure that it got baked in at double-track width and didn't get VE'd down to single-only late in the game to salt over the UR, but that's about the entire extent of the "future-proofing" consideration afforded. The UR, to this day, has not been advanced anywhere beyond the Major Investment Study that was conducted 16 years ago and was itself indecisive about what mode the full-build thing was even going to be (that of course being from the height of the BRT-overhype era). A lot more prelim work--starting with study refresh of the aging MIS data--is needed before we're anywhere close to shovel-ready there. Somewhat easier grab-n'-go would be just +1'ing the trolley from the carhouse to Sullivan and grabbing formerly North Station-terminating C trains to end there in revenue service instead...worrying about the grander trans-Mystic crossing way later. That might become a greater point of advocacy after Sullivan Sq. is redevved and traffic-calmed to support new job centers there. But right this second that isn't front-burner...so it's all just "happens-to-be" plug-compatible.


The ramp design stayed put while the Brickbottom NIMBY's bickered for years with the T over the carhouse siting. As-designed the flyovers could fit any of three different parcels they were haggling to park the yard on, and that was the driving factor that sort of contoured it to having built-in "anywhere to anywhere" routing flexibility. It was very late in the game before they had any consensus which slab of land on which side of the neighborhood that yard was actually going to sit. Late in design when the ops plan was finalized the ramp started looking less and less like it was going to get lots of regular use, as shift changes proved easier to stage at the ends of the branches rather than cutting revenue runs short at NS or Lechmere. And when the final carhouse parcel selection got locked in, it freed up some strips of land on the East Somerville Station approach, which allowed them to cheaply tri-track the first segment of Medford Branch with a pocket track before the to/from-Medford yard lead forked off. When Baker threatened to kill the whole project over the cost overruns, they figured that instead of shuffling a handful of trains per day direct from Lechmere they could save some easy-grab construction $$$ reversing out of the way on the East Somerville pocket...and that was deemed "good enough" for ops to VE out the ramp and net the savings. But the ramp was already designed, so they simply chopped it off at an "Evil Knievel" stub rather than slimming the whole profile of it down to just the single-track Union outbound flyover. That was simply straightest-line means of cutting the surplus-to-requirement without squandering additional cost chew on a change order to redesign the ramp, so they left it alone. It also conveniently kept S.T.E.P. off their backs because the Urban Ring plug-compatibility was still provisioned and sleeping dogs could be left alone.


I wouldn't say a lot of hard and/or visionary work was put into the UR provisioning by any stretch. They had enough on their plates just getting this project to shovel-ready, and fighting off the hysterical Brickbottom NIMBY's on the slab of land for the yard. It was mainly just a happenstance to how the design progressed through the years and what allowances they had to build in because of the years of siting uncertainty about where the VMT facility was going to get plunked. S.T.E.P. merely happened to be *just* persistent and annoying enough at demanding written proof--same as they were browbeating for assurances that Union-Porter future extension is fully provisioned off the Union Sq. Station stub--to make sure no one at MassDOT pulled a fast one ratfucking the design at the last minute on pure malice. That's about it. The rest was all following path-of-least-resistance.
 
Sorry if it's been discussed before, but I continue to be baffled that this big set of ramps was considered the better/more economical option than raising two commuter rail tracks on a bridge over the various GLX tracks and switches.

I mean I'm sure it'll give a great view of the city and surrounding area once complete, it just seems bizarre.
 
Sorry if it's been discussed before, but I continue to be baffled that this big set of ramps was considered the better/more economical option than raising two commuter rail tracks on a bridge over the various GLX tracks and switches.
I'd guess two things, first commuter rail trains are much heavier and can't handle nearly the inclines that a LRV can so to have the commuter rail go over you'd need a lot longer incline and a more expensive bigger bridge.

Second, by having the GL grade separated, NB trains to Union Square can head down the branch without blocking the SB trains on the Medford branch, which is operationally much better. Avoids the traffic jam you get at Copley with E branch trains trying to cross the IB tracks to get down onto the E branch.
 
Sorry if it's been discussed before, but I continue to be baffled that this big set of ramps was considered the better/more economical option than raising two commuter rail tracks on a bridge over the various GLX tracks and switches.

I mean I'm sure it'll give a great view of the city and surrounding area once complete, it just seems bizarre.
????

The Fitchburg Line is below the GLX mainline's ground-level grade...like 18 ft. below. The straight shot to the Medford Branch is just backfilling a 2004-removed old freight rail overpass that went to the long-demolished B&M yard now occupied by Cambridge Crossing, and raised slightly for the interface with the end of Lechmere Viaduct. No one would EVER propose elevating the effing Fitchburg 30 ft. higher instead. That would take 2/3 mile long inclines to work at max FRA grades, which is impossible for accessing (1) North Station, (2) Boston Engine Terminal, and (3) the Grand Junction Branch within any of the allotted space or still having a McGrath roadway that ran contiguously to Lechmere.

Like...I'm baffled at what kind of spatial misrecognition would ever cause one to think that was even physically possible, let alone preferable. Three dimensions: how do they work???

The tri-legged GLX junction is grade-separated with flyovers because the headways would simply choke if all the crossing over were done at level ground. And unlike Copley Jct. which is only one switch throw, the carhouse leg enormously complicates the throw sequence and introduces more failure modes. Separate the splits and redundify some of the carhouse access, or service levels would've been crap from all the required extra switching challenges. That design decision wasn't controversial in the slightest given the overall layout and fact that the only parcels big enough and available enough for the VMF were directly adjacent.
 
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Hey F-Line. Regarding the Yard 8 loop that came through this area, I know you said a while ago that "GLX team says there's a means of reconnecting the loop track" when we were discussing it. And I believe you commented that Pan Am kind of lost the urge to fight for the restoration but any suitor (CSX) would insist on it.

Initially it looked promising since they seem to have left room for it between the Washington Street bridge and the "Red Bridge". However in more recent pictures and watching the cams, it now looks impossible since there is no way to cross the GLX tracks going into the yard which will cross just north of these ramps.

Am I reading this right?
 
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Hey F-Line. Regarding the Yard 8 loop that came through this area, I know you said a while ago that "GLX team says there's a means of reconnecting the loop track" when we were discussing it. And I believe you commented that Pan Am kind of lost the urge to fight for the restoration but any suitor (CXS) would insist on it.

Initially it looked promising since they seem to have left room for it between the Washington Street bridge and the "Red Bridge". However in more recent pictures and watching the cams, it now looks impossible since there is no way to cross the GLX tracks going into the yard which will cross just north of these ramps.

Am I reading this right?
I don't know. Not even official Keolis commuter rail staffers have known the status of that saga. Nobody has given a clear answer.
 
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Just thinking about the Rt 16 extension. Eminent Domain is in the cards either way, and it appears extending all the way to West Medford isn't cost effective, is there any benefit to replacing that awkward Whole Foods (instead of the UHAUL), accessed via a duck-under?

There's more room for a stub end yard, bus transfers, and potential TOD growth. It's also farther from neighborhoods, and the roadway there already needs an adjustment.
 
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Just thinking about the Rt 16 extension. Eminent Domain is in the cards either way, and it appears extending all the way to West Medford isn't cost effective, is there any benefit to replacing that awkward Whole Foods (instead of the UHAUL), accessed via a duck-under?

There's more room for a stub end yard, bus transfers, and potential TOD growth. It's also farther from neighborhoods, and the roadway there already needs an adjustment.
That'd represent a significant escalation in cost and expansion of project scope, no? Also it'd move the station to the Medford side of the border from the Somerville side, which could have political implications.
 
I think you could get the desired parcel level outcomes at mvp without moving the green line by doing a tunnel jacked bike pedestrian underpass (or even bus -ped underpass)
 
I think you could get the desired parcel level outcomes at mvp without moving the green line by doing a tunnel jacked bike pedestrian underpass (or even bus -ped underpass)
What buses would need an underpass?
 
What buses would need an underpass?
I’d be looking for a way to loop the 80 and 94 in a way that spreads their impact away from MVP @ Boston Ave and maximizes right turns And distributing the left turn burden

Also would consider the need for the 134 bus from Winchester center and whether it could come directly to this MVP as a terminus

also imagine a new circumferential bus route that runs from Wellington to Medford Square to MVP to Broadway to Davis
 
I expect the 80 will get eliminated once the GLX opens.
Reconfigured but not eliminated: 80 might extend from its Arlington Center terminus to Belmont or Arlington Heights even if as its inner section gets cut back to Tufts (or my preference: Davis)

MVP becomes a very tempting hub from which to radiate bus connections to North Medford, Winchester, Lexington, Alewife, and Belmont
 
What are those vertical corrugated things? I assume they're part of the foundation for the bike path, or are they part of the support for the retaining wall?
 
The “saw-comb” structures tie the community path to the retaining walls
 
Why didn’t they fill it up with gravel and dirt instead of saw comb this small section?
 

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