Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Teban54 said:
Are there provisions for Everett/Chelsea and Grand Junction branches?
Click to expand...
Half: what was supposed to be a dedicated incline to the Vehicle Maintenance Facility was mostly deleted but the space for its turnout which points outbound toward the Northeast is still there

Gets complicated / unprovisioned after that. I think my horizontal arrow is backwards, below, I'm not sure how it is connected

Yard Leads.png
 
I wonder what people think of this:
Was it a missed opportunity to not have a parking garage included in the Union Square station/USQ property? What other termini aside from street-running Green Lines don't have parking?

Again, maybe this was a victim of the cost-cutting resolution to get this thing done - and my breath is wasted.
 
AndrewOnTheMBTA said:
Was it a missed opportunity to not have a parking garage included in the Union Square station/USQ property? What other termini aside from street-running Green Lines don't have parking?
Click to expand...

I think the last thing Somerville wanted was a park-and-ride. Your invocation of the other Green Line surface terminals is appropriate; like them, Union Square (and most of the GLX for that matter) is serving quite dense, walkable areas much closer to the downtown core than the heavy rail termini (other than perennial-oddity Bowdoin). Part of the aim is to decrease the need to rely on cars, which is completely contrary to any incentive to build a parking garage.

I'd argue it was not only not a missed opportunity, it was a deliberate and preferable design choice.
 
AndrewOnTheMBTA said:
I wonder what people think of this:
Was it a missed opportunity to not have a parking garage included in the Union Square station/USQ property? What other termini aside from street-running Green Lines don't have parking?

Again, maybe this was a victim of the cost-cutting resolution to get this thing done - and my breath is wasted.
Click to expand...
Ashmont does not have parking
 
Yes: GLX was specifically pitched to take cars off neighborhood streets and car parking was ruled out by design.

Specifically the pitch was “Picture Boston College and Coolidge Corner” as neighborhood enhancing walk-bus-bike-kiss&ride termini.
 
Last edited:
AndrewOnTheMBTA said:
I wonder what people think of this:
Was it a missed opportunity to not have a parking garage included in the Union Square station/USQ property? What other termini aside from street-running Green Lines don't have parking?

Again, maybe this was a victim of the cost-cutting resolution to get this thing done - and my breath is wasted.
Click to expand...
The old Lechmere GL terminal didn't have any parking. I look at Union Square station as a similar urban terminal.
 
Last edited:
If 300 people found it useful and also did a net good that a good portion didn't drive deeper into Boston, I say Lechmere could have used a parking garage to replace that. Though one father out also makes sense on the same principle - though the one that probably makes the most sense is the unbuilt Route 16 station. Though plans for that has dropped. I won't be surprise some will try to use the Whole Foods lot though if and when Route 16 ever gets built.
 
GLX @ Route 16 MVP is also pitched/designed as a bus hub (picture the 80, 94, 87, 134 and maybe 95) and a walk-bike-kiss&ride. Parking always shot down as counterproductive. Virtually any place within 2 miles is better served by bus, bike (or by CR park and ride at West Medford or Wedgemere)
 
Last edited:
My understanding is that there will be around 250 parking spaces in the Union Square development that will be available to the public. Personally, I don't think we should be encouraging any cars to come into an area as dense as Union Square will be just to park, but it will be an option.
 
Union Square already has pretty bad cross-town commuter traffic at rush hour. It can be a 10 minute wait just to pull onto Washington from a side street. Getting to a Union Square parking structure from the highway would be pretty brutal. The streets are already essentially at max capacity even before USQ opens. I would think turning the surface lot at Sullivan into a garage would be a better play.
 
erom said:
Union Square already has pretty bad cross-town commuter traffic at rush hour. It can be a 10 minute wait just to pull onto Washington from a side street. Getting to a Union Square parking structure from the highway would be pretty brutal. The streets are already essentially at max capacity even before USQ opens. I would think turning the surface lot at Sullivan into a garage would be a better play.
Click to expand...
Adding on to this, who would a parking garage in Union Square serve? The station is surrounded on all sides by both rail centered and parking adjacent stations.
 
I'm a bit late on posting this, I recorded a video of the first train ride from Union Square, stopping at Lechmere and then going over the viaduct to Science Park. I uploaded the video here if anybody is interested in seeing the first train ride. The video isn't great; there's several long pauses when nothing much is happening.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top