Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Gilman Square, Lowell Street station updates

Here are some notes from Tuesday night’s design update meeting for the Gilman Square and Lowell Street stations on the Green Line Extension, attended by about 90 people at the Center for the Arts at the Armory in Somerville

Representatives from the project management and design teams provided and overview of progress to date toward the 60% station design stage, which they expect to reach this fall.

Presenting were Karen Arpino-Shaffer, Deputy Program Manager, HDR/Gilbane; Greg Yates, Project Manager, AECOM; Randy Henke, Deputy Project Manager/Director of Design, HNTB; and Deborah Fennick, Architect, Fennick & McCreadie Architecture.

GILMAN SQUARE

+ Fennick, a 20-year Somerville resident, said the goal of the station is to re-establish Gilman Square – well-served by rail service up to the 1940s – as a transit-focused commercial, residential and civic location.

+ The station has two entrances, one from a headhouse on Medford Street and one from an accessible path from School Street on the high school side of the tracks (and ultimately, the Community Path)

+ The Medford Street headhouse will have a lower plaza and an upper plaza; the upper plaza would be reached by a pedestrian bridge attached to the reconstructed Medford Street bridge.

+ A raised intersection would be added at Pearl Street at the entrance of the Medford Street headhouse lower plaza

+ A U-shaped drop-off area for The Ride is located at the lower plaza at Pearl Street.

+ The size of the Medford Street headhouse has been reduced; overall, the station size has been reduced by 21% from the May 2012 design but the number of fare gates has been doubled.

+ The traction power substation has been “buried” at track level behind a retaining wall and covered with the accessible path from School Street and a sloping green space; in the previous design the substation was a two-story building. An existing NSTAR substation will be removed.

+ Covered bike parking is next to the substation with 124 enclosed spaces; another 22 spaces would be on the plaza for a total of 146, or six more than committed to in the Environmental Assessment for the project.

+ Granite blocks from the former Gilman train station will be re-used at the station.

LOWELL STREET

+ Unlike Gilman Station which is near a mixture of residential, commercial and institutional properties, Lowell Street Station will serve a mostly residential area featuring traditional houses and large multi-unit complexes such as the VNA Assisted Living Center and the Maxwell’s Green condos and apartments. There were fewer changes in the last year to this station design than at Gilman.

+ There is a single headhouse accessed from a plaza on a reconstructed Lowell Street bridge. Drop-off for The Ride is also at this location.

+ The roof line of the station was lowered by relocating mechanical activities under the bridge and the massing of the headhouse also was reduced by 7% from the May 2012 design.

+ Bike parking was moved to adjacent the station and integrated with the lobby. There will be 78 spaces (60 enclosed, 18 on the plaza); the Environmental Assessment commitment was for 50 spaces.

SOMERVILLE BY DESIGN

+ George Proakis of the Somerville Planning Department gave an overview of the development concepts around the station that have come out of the city’s Somerville by Design community planning process. Updated draft plans will be released for public review in June for Gilman Square and in July for Lowell Street/Magoun Square. Check for them at www.somervillebydesign.com.

+ + +

Remaining station design update meetings:

Tuesday, June 11

Washington Street and Union Square stations

6 to 8 p.m.

Holiday Inn

30 Washington St., Somerville


Tuesday, June 18

Lechmere Station

6 to 8 p.m.

Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center

41 Second St., Cambridge


Thursday, June 20

College Avenue Station

6 to 8 p.m.

St. Clement School

579 Boston Ave., Medford

See the GLX project website for more information:

www.greenlineextension.org

- Ken Krause

Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance
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Photos from the meeting are on Facebook.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

They used the Washington Metro map for the station map at the Ball Square Station. Just thought it was funny.

The designs look good if they could just get these built already.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

The Union Square design appears to have a lobby that precludes an eventual extension to Porter...
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

I like how moving Ball Sq Station back now actually allows for TOD. Good stuff!
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

davem said:
The Union Square design appears to have a lobby that precludes an eventual extension to Porter...
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No, it doesn't. The vertically-oriented renderings are probably linked umpteen pages back in this thread, but the egresses go above the ROW clearance before they cross over to the lobby...not through it. The tracks go all the way to the existing bridge retaining wall without any room to spare, so if they punched through the wall they'd have a straight shot.

STEP did everything but hook the T's testicles up to a car battery to ensure that no funny business got played with this provision.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

F-Line to Dudley said:
No, it doesn't. The vertically-oriented renderings are probably linked umpteen pages back in this thread, but the egresses go above the ROW clearance before they cross over to the lobby...not through it. The tracks go all the way to the existing bridge retaining wall without any room to spare, so if they punched through the wall they'd have a straight shot.

STEP did everything but hook the T's testicles up to a car battery to ensure that no funny business got played with this provision.
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They had better pull out the battery then, because pages 50 and 51 shows the lower lobby and mechanical room right on the ROW. Granted, the column spacing appears to be such that they could demo it easily enough, but I'd still rather see the space left vacant.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

davem said:
They had better pull out the battery then, because pages 50 and 51 shows the lower lobby and mechanical room right on the ROW. Granted, the column spacing appears to be such that they could demo it easily enough, but I'd still rather see the space left vacant.
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According to STEP's meeting notes, they got raked over the coals yet again about the lobby obstruction on the northerly side, and why this has not been addressed from the 30% design comments where design revisions were promised. The T's position came out of both sides of its mouth is that there is absolutely no blockers to an extension beyond the obvious (the bridge, the edge of the NStar substation) and that the slice of lobby was easily relocatable.

I wonder if this is going to get delayed more by a design revision. STEP has really had enough of this shit since it was red-flagged all the way from the 30% stage.


If/when the time comes I don't think it'll be a problem. The southerly side is totally unobstructed and whatever lobby impacts on the northerly side can probably be weaved around, albeit at greater impact to the substation when they punch through the wall. But that project's going to get a portion of its funding from auxiliary sources like decking + air rights development over the canyon between Porter and Wilson Sq. and redevelopment of the substation parcel, so the T's lazy position likely has more to do with...laziness...than obstructionism. If they're not going to be the sole driver and funder of the entire corridor they care a lot less about making a mess of their newly-built station with unnecessary cosmetic surgery. They'll let somebody else lead them by the nose on it and ask for an extra handout to offset the station modification costs.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Nice, thanks!

What is the plan for the current station area? I think the MBTA should JV with some developer and get a nice big flat iron apartment tower there. It has the land and can make a nice chunk of change and flip the final project to a developer and make some good useful budget filler plus build TOD... The ultimate irony will build when people complain about lack of parking.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

slide 52 shows the intersection. it looks like they will be extending a street through where the station currently is and putting a small cafe at the corner. the rest will be a new building.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

choo said:
Nice, thanks!

What is the plan for the current station area? I think the MBTA should JV with some developer and get a nice big flat iron apartment tower there. It has the land and can make a nice chunk of change and flip the final project to a developer and make some good useful budget filler plus build TOD... The ultimate irony will build when people complain about lack of parking.
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It's a land swap with Pan Am Railways for the new Lechmere parcel. Pan Am's going to get another Northpoint developer to plunk something on it, and the state has agreed to chuck in some streetscaping for the immediate Lechmere Sq. block after the El overpass gets torn down over the O'Brien/Cambridge St. intersection.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

found5dollar said:
Ok get ready for this, the presentation for Lechmere is up. There are so many plans and renders it is almost overwhelming. Describes the whole area after redesign.

http://greenlineextension.eot.state...tgs/staDesign/Lechmere_Presentation061813.pdf
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Are they really going to paint O'Brien Highway red? I mean, I can see some minor roads in North Point to go for a fake classy feel, but the Highway?

Also, the serpentine elevated platform reminds me of the Loyola "L" station in Chicago. I always find curving platforms odd, don't know why.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

The curved platform doesn't bother me, there are plenty of others in the MBTA system. But I absolutely love the elevated nature of it. There is just something very cool about an el winding it's way between buildings. Maybe this will help the city to get over the anti-el mentality.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

HenryAlan said:
The curved platform doesn't bother me, there are plenty of others in the MBTA system. But I absolutely love the elevated nature of it. There is just something very cool about an el winding it's way between buildings. Maybe this will help the city to get over the anti-el mentality.
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Me too. Washington St/Brickbottom Station will be elevated as well.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Equilibria said:
Are they really going to paint O'Brien Highway red? I mean, I can see some minor roads in North Point to go for a fake classy feel, but the Highway?
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Especially given that red is the MUTCD color for bus lanes / busways.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Arborway said:
Especially given that red is the MUTCD color for bus lanes / busways.
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Is it not just something pretty to highlight the area in the renderings?
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

BussesAin'tTrains said:
Is it not just something pretty to highlight the area in the renderings?
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I would have agreed if it was just in the overhead site plans, but the street looks pretty red in the renderings, and they have that big brick motif in the crosswalks to go with it.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

There was a lot of writing on the four car platform length is part of the GLX plan to start using four car train sets?
 
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