Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Also, I hope they're ready for the public backlash at the community path especially as the main entrance to Gilman sq.
 
Ruairi said:
yea, the removal of the site webcams was a clear sign that there was going to be no transparency when it came to this project.
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Oh boy, imagine every last hole filled and properly landscape, construction fence packed up, every tool is gone, even the plastic wrapping peeled off. No sign of construction left, 100% complete no matter what angle you look at it - not even adjacent construction and final detailing like at Union or Lechmere. Just nice stations except the gates just need to be rolled up to look open.

Then November comes and leaves. The December comes and nothing happens. And just like the first 2 weeks Orange Line post-shutdown nobody knows what's going on, the media start asking questions 2 weeks into December. Only into the 3rd week in December will they announce they aren't opening but with no explanation why or when. They only start giving explanations only about the explanations to citing lack of responses due to Christmas and New Years - but still no explanation why or when delay itself. And then only after that outrage get a more substantial explanations is given after that with an express of regret again for the lack of communication

I can imagine the timeline going even darker but I think I'm going bleak enough in this pure unfounded speculation.
 
ant8904 said:
Oh boy, imagine every last hole filled and properly landscape, construction fence packed up, every tool is gone, even the plastic wrapping peeled off. No sign of construction left, 100% complete no matter what angle you look at it - not even adjacent construction and final detailing like at Union or Lechmere. Just nice stations except the gates just need to be rolled up to look open.

Then November comes and leaves. The December comes and nothing happens. And just like the first 2 weeks Orange Line post-shutdown nobody knows what's going on, the media start asking questions 2 weeks into December. Only into the 3rd week in December will they announce they aren't opening but with no explanation why or when. They only start giving explanations only about the explanations to citing lack of responses due to Christmas and New Years - but still no explanation why or when delay itself. And then only after that outrage get a more substantial explanations is given after that with an express of regret again for the lack of communication

I can imagine the timeline going even darker but I think I'm going bleak enough in this pure unfounded speculation.
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Nono, I fully believe it will open this year - at least on "revenue service" train will run before Baker leaves office to prove he was able to get tough and fix at least the GLX. It might shutdown after that for months to fix overhead catenary that forces the line to 5 mph, but, hey, w/e who's keeping track and the photo ops are done and people are out of office by then.
 
bakgwailo said:
Nono, I fully believe it will open this year - at least on "revenue service" train will run before Baker leaves office to prove he was able to get tough and fix at least the GLX. It might shutdown after that for months to fix overhead catenary that forces the line to 5 mph, but, hey, w/e who's keeping track and the photo ops are done and people are out of office by then.
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Agreed. Baker is going to get the GLX to open shortly before his term ends. So sometime around Christmas 2022 or New Years 2023, in the days around that timeframe, the GLX; and probably the community path alongside it; will open for at least 1 revenue service train to run on the Medford Branch, so Governor Baker can do the photo ops
 
The trains may not run, but the moment the last hard hat vacates the area that community path will be opened by the community.

If history is a guide, unopened bike path sections that look both completely finished and also abandoned by construction crews are quickly "opened by mob fiat." Northern Strand, Draw 7 connector, Alewife Brook, North Bank Bridge.

Cyclists with pliers and willpower will always beat out an increasingly disengaged general contractor.
 
How much more train testing and crew qualifications do they need to do? Is it possible they already mostly got that done before the Orange Line shutdown?
 
Arlington said:
How much more train testing and crew qualifications do they need to do? Is it possible they already mostly got that done before the Orange Line shutdown?
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They need to do full trial running, which should involve switching the D branch to terminating at Union Square and having the E branch kick off it's passengers at Lechmere and run out of service to Medford. They'll need a few weeks of that if the Union launch is any indication.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
They need to do full trial running, which should involve switching the D branch to terminating at Union Square and having the E branch kick off it's passengers at Lechmere and run out of service to Medford. They'll need a few weeks of that if the Union launch is any indication.
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The D has been running to Union square lately, and during the shutdowns the C is running to Union Square
 
cubbe8 said:
The D has been running to Union square lately, and during the shutdowns the C is running to Union Square
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I admittedly haven't been out that way in a few weeks, I've been seeing E branch trains head signed as Union Square still but it's entirely possible they've already made the branch switchover then and haven't fixed the headsigns...
 
From twitter.
I think the path is going to be an unusable mess
1666745109138.png
 
I'm not usually a ray of sunshine type, but -- and, bear in mind, I absolutely get your and others' criticisms of this -- as a bicyclist who lives nearby I will be using this the minute it's open and have zero worries. It won't be "unusuable." I'd rather have a flawed amenity than no amenity. This path will be great.
 
chrisbrat said:
I'm not usually a ray of sunshine type, but -- and, bear in mind, I absolutely get your and others' criticisms of this -- as a bicyclist who lives nearby I will be using this the minute it's open and have zero worries. It won't be "unusuable." I'd rather have a flawed amenity than no amenity. This path will be great.
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i Just can’t get my head around building a flawed amenity, knowing full well it’s flawed. I think from wallnut to CX it might work ok because no one will use it for recreation but I think walnut to the existing path will actually be dangerous. I’ll prob stick to bone shaking highland.
 
1 month left to go and the pedestrian path still a dead end. I could picture the pedestrian ramp to East Somerville Station just beyond the white trucks in the back. I thought there would have been an attempt to start paving sidewalks at this Morgan St. cul-de-sac area by now.

path.JPG
 
bakgwailo said:
Nono, I fully believe it will open this year - at least on "revenue service" train will run before Baker leaves office to prove he was able to get tough and fix at least the GLX. It might shutdown after that for months to fix overhead catenary that forces the line to 5 mph, but, hey, w/e who's keeping track and the photo ops are done and people are out of office by then.
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So we are running Charlie out to Swampscott with tar and feathers when this happens right?
 
Ruairi said:
i Just can’t get my head around building a flawed amenity, knowing full well it’s flawed. I think from wallnut to CX it might work ok because no one will use it for recreation but I think walnut to the existing path will actually be dangerous. I’ll prob stick to bone shaking highland.
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That bridge over the Red Bridge is going to be a photo spot. Not sure that it will be super heavily used as a commuter route in the way that people seem to assume that it will be.
 
Ruairi said:
i Just can’t get my head around building a flawed amenity, knowing full well it’s flawed. I think from wallnut to CX it might work ok because no one will use it for recreation but I think walnut to the existing path will actually be dangerous. I’ll prob stick to bone shaking highland.
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It's one way of ensuring that over-eager/earbud-distracted/etc. bicyclists don't just plow right through dangerously busy car-heavy intersections.
 
as02143 said:
So we are running Charlie out to Swampscott with tar and feathers when this happens right?
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I was at Union Square when all the dignitaries showed up to board the train and ride it one stop to Lechmere, where they held an interminably long press conference. Charlie Baker showed up to the Union Square station in a phalanx of three gigantic black SUVs with tinted windows. He walked onto the platform (didn't pay!), stepped onto the train, the train moved (slowly) to Lechmere, and he got off and gave the press conference. The three black SUVs were waiting for him at Lechmere. After the remarks were concluded, Charlie climbed into one of the black SUVs, and the vehicles then drove him to… the State House. Which is like three stops away on the aforementioned Green Line.

I cannot WAIT to see the last of Charlie "Pioneer Institute" Baker!
 
chrisbrat said:
It's one way of ensuring that over-eager/earbud-distracted/etc. bicyclists don't just plow right through dangerously busy car-heavy intersections.
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Isn’t that exactly what the intersection is setting up?

At the very least I imagine near-miss bicycle-on-bicycle or bicycle-pedestrian collisions trying to round that tight narrow corner with not much visibility.
 
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