Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

HenryAlan said:
I don't think this is universally true. While it does seem that the Mayor lacks interest or is inattentive to transit needs, there is an obvious counterpoint in his advocacy of cycling and delivery on associated infrastructure. We are only a few years away from a comprehensive bike lane network that truly covers the entire city. That has required long term leadership.

Now, if only he were just as interested in OLX, F-Line, and Fairmont HRRT.
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This is Menino's weakness and why I so wish we get new blood. Menino have done or set in motion all the good things he and do. The stuff he is good with (like neighborhoods and schools) have been great. But he has no interests in ideas we want to see. We need new blood who will address desires and needs he doesn't address.
 
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Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Problem with his thinking is that everything seems to be zero-sum and arrayed against each other in ridiculous ways. We don't need to advocate for transit, we need bike lanes. We don't need an at-grade boulevard in JP, we need green space. We don't need towers along the Greenway, we need food trucks (10am-6pm only).
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Shepard said:
Problem with his thinking is that everything seems to be zero-sum and arrayed against each other in ridiculous ways. We don't need to advocate for transit, we need bike lanes. We don't need an at-grade boulevard in JP, we need green space. We don't need towers along the Greenway, we need food trucks (10am-6pm only).
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If we plant some grass on top of a trolley then can we have light rail on Washington St.? It's a Green trolley...it's got green stuff planted on the roof. You can't walk on it any more than you're going to enjoy all that dead grass the sun doesn't reach in the brownspace under the Casey-Menino Artery II, so it's all cool right? <-- (This makes about as much sense as yesterday's Mumbles word salad.)

I guarantee you for Curatone's next act there will be no doubt whatsoever where the City of Somerville is leaning on the future of the gigantic McCarthy rust scar. That'll come down too before the Bowker and maybe even before the Casey cripple-fight-in-overtime is done. And not due to natural causes pancaking with a bunch of cars on the road below either...like the Casey and Bowker will the longer he keeps up this passive-aggressiveness vs. the neighborhoods.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

I just came across a FaceBook organization which is petitioning Mayor Curtatone and Trans Sec Davey to remove the McGrath Highway. Next order of business?
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

BostonUrbEx said:
I just came across a FaceBook organization which is petitioning Mayor Curtatone and Trans Sec Davey to remove the McGrath Highway. Next order of business?
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Somerville and STEP are in favor of blowing it up. They haven't done the full-court press yet because the serious meetings haven't started in earnest, but it's coming. And they're going to present it as integral to developing around GLX, esp. at Washington St.

Having lived off Washington a couple blocks away for 2 years myself...good riddance. A walk of shame through caked-up pigeon shit to cross the street and get to Union, plus the utterly nonsensical intersection layout where cars never know what lane they're supposed to be in and blow through the retardedly mis-timed signals all the time. It's too damaging to the city fabric to persist as a pure induced-demand truck bypass for 93. And, yes, it's going to inhibit development around transit-linked Brickbottom and Union if those areas have to persist with no connecting street grid. East Somerville may as well be a different town all together from the rest of Somerville.

Watch. The messaging's going to be a LOT more coherent than "[*garble-garble*] Big Dig II...[*garble*] Greenspace! But it's gonna cost twice as much...[*garble*] not my problem." Can't say the leaders in Somerville haven't had a lot of practice the last 10 years twisting the screws on a reluctant state.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

HenryAlan said:
I don't think this is universally true. While it does seem that the Mayor lacks interest or is inattentive to transit needs, there is an obvious counterpoint in his advocacy of cycling and delivery on associated infrastructure. We are only a few years away from a comprehensive bike lane network that truly covers the entire city. That has required long term leadership.

Now, if only he were just as interested in OLX, F-Line, and Fairmont HRRT.
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Henry -- I thik you have the perspective that some of the others don't

In the public domain in Boston the timeframe for much is decades

It was several decades between the obvious need to do something about the stink in the Back Bay and the start of filling

It was several decades between the planning for the Turnpike extension and its construction

several decades from the first thinking of "depressing the Central Artery" to the Big Dig's start of construction

Several decades from the talking to the building of the BCEC

In contrast of course the then private -- Boston Street Railway -- evaluated the technology and started buildng the power plant for electrification of the horse cars in a matter of months

Several weeks from approval of the drug to starting the digging for Vertex in the SPID

Is there a common denoninator -- private enterprise versus Public

Of course the government-flunkies and their sycophant supporter public are constrantly trying to introduce more delay and "government-like" bureauKraptic process into private sector projects
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

F-Line to Dudley said:
Somerville and STEP are in favor of blowing it up. They haven't done the full-court press yet because the serious meetings haven't started in earnest, but it's coming. And they're going to present it as integral to developing around GLX, esp. at Washington St.

Having lived off Washington a couple blocks away for 2 years myself...good riddance. A walk of shame through caked-up pigeon shit to cross the street and get to Union, plus the utterly nonsensical intersection layout where cars never know what lane they're supposed to be in and blow through the retardedly mis-timed signals all the time. It's too damaging to the city fabric to persist as a pure induced-demand truck bypass for 93. And, yes, it's going to inhibit development around transit-linked Brickbottom and Union if those areas have to persist with no connecting street grid. East Somerville may as well be a different town all together from the rest of Somerville.

Watch. The messaging's going to be a LOT more coherent than "[*garble-garble*] Big Dig II...[*garble*] Greenspace! But it's gonna cost twice as much...[*garble*] not my problem." Can't say the leaders in Somerville haven't had a lot of practice the last 10 years twisting the screws on a reluctant state.
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Does blowing up McGrath Highway include the Exit 29 interchange with I-93 and 38? How about the intersection with Route 16 at Station Landing?

I ask because, having parked my car at Station Landing for this whole semester, I've become intimately acquainted with how totally bullshit both of those junctions are. Are those technically not McGrath Highway and therefore "somebody else's problem?"
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Commuting Boston Student said:
Does blowing up McGrath Highway include the Exit 29 interchange with I-93 and 38? How about the intersection with Route 16 at Station Landing?

I ask because, having parked my car at Station Landing for this whole semester, I've become intimately acquainted with how totally bullshit both of those junctions are. Are those technically not McGrath Highway and therefore "somebody else's problem?"
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Separate projects. The state does have a plan for fixing the 93/28 interchange clusterfuck, but it's been punted off the FY2012-2016 project list because of hopeless funding shortage. 16/28 is Medford's cause to advocate for.

Somerville's scope of project is from the Fitchburg Line bridge to Broadway, at least as far as traffic-calming the road from 6 to 4 travel lanes goes (that would then extend to Cambridge St. on the other side of the bridge with wider, less terrifying sidewalks on O'Brien Hwy.). And Medford St. to Somerville Ave. is the meat of it as far as blowing up the rust-and-pigeon-poop monstrosity and stitching the street grid back together. Broadway-to-Assembly with 93 in the middle would stay as-is...that's technically the start of Fellsway and end of McGrath anyway.

The state would probably be more willing to fix 93/28/38 if McGrath got downgraded because the sorely underutilized 38 frontage roads are where all the truck traffic really should be going to get to Boston. McGrath's the induced demand trap it is because it's the lazy way to cut across...keep barreling through the center lane.


But...yeah, back on topic...there is most definitely a ceiling as to how much positive effect GLX can have on Union, Brickbottom, and Gilman Sq. with that giant gash and totally destroyed street grid dividing them. Medford St. to Somerville Ave. could be a whole new elongated square of its own if the gash were healed. You better believe that dovetails snugly with STEP's transit advocacy.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

*Crossing fingers that we can get Rt 28 traffic forced onto I-93 at Assembly Square and from 93 to Lechmere, 28 can be downgraded to a street like Mass Ave @ Central Square.*
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

BostonUrbEx said:
*Crossing fingers that we can get Rt 28 traffic forced onto I-93 at Assembly Square and from 93 to Lechmere, 28 can be downgraded to a street like Mass Ave @ Central Square.*
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Why would you want to create a barrier to through traffic, or does forcing traffic onto I-93 not mean forcing ALL traffic?
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

I would think most southbound 28 traffic would be encouraged to take 93 because McGrath is downgraded from a highway to a boulevard. 28 wouldn't be cut off at 93 from through traffic.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Commuting Boston Student said:
Why would you want to create a barrier to through traffic, or does forcing traffic onto I-93 not mean forcing ALL traffic?
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By forced I mean most people are just going to chose to go on 93 rather than take a one-lane road.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

F-Line to Dudley said:
Shit...they may need it for the Casey Overpass teardown that's already been approved:

Hizzonah wants a do-ovah of the drive-ovah. But doesn't want any responsibility for it. But will still tell anyone in earshot he doesn't approve of what the people chose. Because it wasn't what he would've chosen...today, just now.
↑ is why we can't have nice things. The seat of power has the attention span of a gnat and doesn't care which constituencies get left in the lurch when he gets bored and/or cranky.
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I still think they should keep the Casey overpass at Forest Hills, block all traffic from it, and transform it into a "High Line" type elevated park. Traffic would use only the surface streets. The Emerald Necklace would be rejoined with a safe pedestrian continuous elevated park.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

keep the Casey overpass at Forest Hills, block all traffic from it, and transform it into a "High Line" type elevated park
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While I find this idea attractive, I'm not sure the overpass is in sufficiently good shape for even this use in the long term. This entire planning process is being driven by the structure's seemingly irreparable decay.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

BostonUrbEx said:
*Crossing fingers that we can get Rt 28 traffic forced onto I-93 at Assembly Square and from 93 to Lechmere, 28 can be downgraded to a street like Mass Ave @ Central Square.*
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Yes! The area across Twin City Plaza could certainly be put for better use (and Twin City Plaza itself would look a lot better with some residential towers on top of the stores...)
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

http://somerville.patch.com/articles/green-line-extension-gets-environmental-approval-from-feds


The federal government this week gave the Green Line Extension an enironmental stamp of approval, according to an announcement from the state's Green Line Extension team.

According to the announcement, the Federal Transit Administration released a "finding of no significant impact" for the project, which means the Green Line Extension received "full federal environmental approval."

Here's what the announcement said:


MassDOT and the MBTA this week received full federal environmental approval for the Green Line Extension project. The Federal Transit Administration released a Finding of No Significant Impact for the project, reaffirming its myriad environmental, mobility, economic development, and community-building benefits. Federal environmental clearance is the culmination of several years of technical work done by MassDOT and the MBTA with close cooperation from the Cities of Cambridge, Somerville, and Medford, as well as the participation of hundreds of individuals and local organizations. The Finding of No Significant Impact will be available on the Green Line Extension project website at http://www.greenlineextension.org/docs_EnvAssess.html.

The announcement also noted the Green Line Extension was recently admitted to the first phase of the Federal Transit Administration's "New Starts" program, which is a necessary step in terms of applying for federal funds to construct the project.

"Reaching these milestones represents a significant commitment of staff and financial resources by the Patrick-Murray Administration, and bespeaks the many public benefits promised by the Green Line Extension project," the announcement said.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Bids sought for initial Green Line Extension work
http://www.medfordgreenline.org/?p=489

The MBTA today began to solicit bids for Phase I of the Green Line Extension project with an advertisement in the Boston Globe.

Phase I, scheduled to being late this year or early next year, will consist of three elements:

+ In South Medford, reconstructing and widening the railroad bridge over Harvard Street to accommodate the Medford Branch extension. Work includes relocating the commuter rail tracks, building retaining walls/noise barriers, and performing ancillary utility and roadway improvements

+ In Somerville, widening of the railroad bridge over Medford Street, which currently carries the Fitchburg commuter rail tracks. This bridge will carry the Union Square branch Green Line tracks.

+ In Cambridge, demolition of the MBTA tire facility building at 21 Water Street. This property will be used for staging and parking during later phases of construction.

Estimated cost of the Phase I work is $18.3 million — $15.3 million for the two bridges, and $3 million for the building demolition.

Bidding documents will be available at the Contract Administration Office (Room 6720, State Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza, Boston) on Wednesday, July 18, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A pre-bid conference will be held at the Green Line Extension Project Office, 155 Federal St., Suite 304, Boston on Thursday, July 26, and 2 p.m.

Bids are due at the Contract Administration office at 2 p.m. on August 21, at which time they will be opened and read publicly.
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Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

It's Lechmere.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

whighlander said:
Urb -- the $15M is about 1% of the total cost of the project

We'll know that they are serious when they put out the RFP for the new Leachmere Station
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Frankly I think it's going to stall after this "Phase I". It isn't even I, it's more like "Pre-Phase" to keep people shut up!
 
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