Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Jahvon09 said:
Looks like an elevator shaft. 😊
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Yeah, that's the core for this adjacent project:

Union Square D2.1 | 10 Prospect Street | Somerville

Splitting this off from the main Union Square thread - parcel has been sold to Skanska and subdivided off of US2's lots. Plan set (with new building-specific renders) has now been filed with the City of Somerville...
archboston.com

57517-EF5-1602-439-D-A96-D-19543-EDAFFBA.jpg
 
As expected, it's March for Union Square:

www.boston.com

The opening of the first Green Line Extension branch has been delayed — again

Citing issues with a power substation, the MBTA announced Thursday that the opening of the Union Square branch is delayed until March 2022.
www.boston.com

However, he suggested that the Medford branch’s opening — already delayed from this December until May 2022 — would likely be delayed as well.
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It seems like the logistics of setting up a substation in, you know, a building the size of a substation is something GLX Contractors could have and should have anticipated.
 
Why am I not surprised? Surprise, surprise, surprise!!!!, as Jim Nabors would say!! Why won't they just call it The Delayed Green Line Extention?!! Hah!! 🥺
 
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It's weird, since they made the announcement in June, work near me, which had been proceeding at a decent rate, immediately slowed to an absolute crawl. So yea, supply chain issues, substation issues, but why the instant slow down in actually building out the rest of the project.
Seems to me, if the substations are the issue, they could finish the rest of the project on schedule and at least open the community path.
 
kjdonovan said:
At some point we have to recognize the Zeno's parodox nature of these delays. Each delay is of a shorter duration than the last, but each is still a delay.
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You should see what has happened in LA with the Crenshaw line.

The closer they get to being done, the further getting done is.

IE:
September 2019: This will be done May 2020!
https://twitter.com/x/status/1187221339813416960

April 2020: This will be done December 2020!
https://twitter.com/x/status/1265789453886345217

December 2020: This will be done April 2021!
https://twitter.com/x/status/1355254609334333442

May 2021: This will be done July 2021!
https://twitter.com/x/status/1408467386739593217

July 2021: This will be done September 2021!
https://twitter.com/x/status/1430626289015312386


It is now October 2021 and they are in fact, not done.
 
Ruairi said:
It's weird, since they made the announcement in June, work near me, which had been proceeding at a decent rate, immediately slowed to an absolute crawl. So yea, supply chain issues, substation issues, but why the instant slow down in actually building out the rest of the project.
Seems to me, if the substations are the issue, they could finish the rest of the project on schedule and at least open the community path.
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When your critical path is delayed there's not much point in spending more money rushing the non-critical path jobs because they have increased float. You can offset some of the cost of the increased timeline by reducing spend on the non-critical paths, but not so much that they then become the critical path
 
Also, if the contractor is on the hook for the overrun, they have no incentive to dig a bigger hole by pushing the rest of the project hard with over time.
 
I'm not shocked by this at all. It seems like they still have a ton of construction and testing to complete before revenue service in December for the Union Square branch. I know it's comparing apples to oranges, but the Elizabeth Line in London has been testing trains and handing over stations to TfL for months now. Hopefully, we will have a mild winter and construction and testing can proceed for the planned Spring 2022 opening. I lived on Boston Avenue in Medford in 1989 and 1990 and they were talking about the project going right behind the apartments at that time! So another few months doesn't seem that bad in the bigger scheme of things.
 
It's frustrating, but not unexpected.

I work in architecture and I can tell you from first hand experience these production chain delays are real and crazy. We've had a couple small projects this summer that have now been sitting at 99% complete for the last month and a half, waiting for one final HVAC unit and a few lights. It's really ridiculous, and no matter how many people you call no one knows (or wants to commit to) a delivery date. I can't imagine how many issues a project the size of the GLX must be facing.
 
Back in the days before any work had gotten started, they were or seemed reluctent to do it. First they said that there either was insuficient or no funds to support the work. This should've been planned out thoroughly, but it seems that it has run into a snag that pushes it back to seemingly no end. I somehow felt that this would turn into another years-long Big Dig-style progect! Hah!! :unsure:
 
Ruairi said:
It's weird, since they made the announcement in June, work near me, which had been proceeding at a decent rate, immediately slowed to an absolute crawl. So yea, supply chain issues, substation issues, but why the instant slow down in actually building out the rest of the project.
Seems to me, if the substations are the issue, they could finish the rest of the project on schedule and at least open the community path.
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Maybe but the path is probably the way the construction folks move equipment and materials into place. It would suck to have to close the path often and regularly to finish construction.
 
as02143 said:
Maybe but the path is probably the way the construction folks move equipment and materials into place. It would suck to have to close the path often and regularly to finish construction.
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yea, I think that’s the case but I’m talking about opening the path when the rail system goes in to testing. Past the phase of needing it for heavy equipment/ materials access. I’m also not suse if completing the path by may would require overtime as the hold up has nothing to do with its construction.
 
Ruairi said:
yea, I think that’s the case but I’m talking about opening the path when the rail system goes in to testing. Past the phase of needing it for heavy equipment/ materials access. I’m also not suse if completing the path by may would require overtime as the hold up has nothing to do with its construction.
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Just because the rail line is in testing doesn't mean that the need for access goes away. Especially since there's no guarantee that they're not going to identify something that needs replacement during testing. Especially since the Medford branch is opening second, there's no guarantee that the Union branch passing the testing phase means that the Medford branch will be fault free.
 
as02143 said:
Just because the rail line is in testing doesn't mean that the need for access goes away. Especially since there's no guarantee that they're not going to identify something that needs replacement during testing. Especially since the Medford branch is opening second, there's no guarantee that the Union branch passing the testing phase means that the Medford branch will be fault free.
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There’s been a lot of reasons given as to why they can’t keep the path on schedule but as far as I can tell it would come down to cost, even tho the contractor was bragging about coming in under budget. Any access during testing could be provided during night hours or even with temp closures.
of course there are ways to get this done. After living with this construction for years, it would be good to at least have a path next Summer. It will be fairly frustrating if it’s 99% complete but closed while bikes are still using McGrath. A selfish position but there you go.
 
Ruairi said:
yea, I think that’s the case but I’m talking about opening the path when the rail system goes in to testing. Past the phase of needing it for heavy equipment/ materials access. I’m also not suse if completing the path by may would require overtime as the hold up has nothing to do with its construction.
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Ironically, the path will need its lighting turned on before they open it... and that will require completion of all that electrical work.
 
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