Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Is the community path just going to be flanked by gravel forever? Are there any plans to put something in that dead space? Grass? Trees? Bike racks? Sculptures? Anything?
 
It's not going to be gravel forever; the city of Somerville has plans for plantings and a park expansion @ Central Street, at that former parking lot turned staging area. The GLX technical provisions also call for fixtures like benches etc.

That said, if you go through the Somerville Urban Forest Committee meeting minutes (don't), it appears that the MBTA is totally against trees of any size in the community path corridor, as it's their land due to risk to Rail infrastruture. The current proposal seems to be "naturalized hillside restoration / erosion control grass mixes" and shrubs.
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Stlin said:
That said, if you go through the Somerville Urban Forest Committee meeting minutes (don't), it appears that the MBTA is totally against trees of any size in the community path corridor, as it's their land due to risk to Rail infrastructure. The current proposal seems to be "naturalized hillside restoration / erosion control grass mixes" and shrubs.
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That would make sense given the number of service cancellations that occur on the Riverside line any time a sizable storm blows through; trees frequently fall blocking the railway or damaging the catenary lines.

This approach is less attractive, yes, but you have to applaud the future proofing.
 
cburns said:
That would make sense given the number of service cancellations that occur on the Riverside line any time a sizable storm blows through; trees frequently fall blocking the railway or damaging the catenary lines.

This approach is less attractive, yes, but you have to applaud the future proofing.
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This may cause another temporary shutdown, but they should think about putting fences over the catenary wires to keep any trees from falling onto the tracks, which would in turn, keep the line up & running. :)
 
Jahvon09 said:
This may cause another temporary shutdown, but they should think about putting fences over the catenary wires to keep any trees from falling onto the tracks, which would in turn, keep the line up & running. :)
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Need to be some pretty strong fences to sustain hits from falling trees.
 
Love seeing that catenary going up. Looking at the wall with the catenary right next to it, I hope no one ever tries climbing onto it from the top of the wall. Sounds crazy, but some kids will try anything. Hopefully a 6' wall of some kind will be installed on the trail side of the concrete wall top.
 
Removing the trees and making sure they don't come back will also make for more reliable Commuter Rail service (I can recall several commuter trips where trains were delayed because trees had been blown down on the tracks). We'll need to keep the trees away on both sides (particularly if we ever want to electrify the Commuter Rail)
 
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