Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Keep an eye out for the native videos of these virtual rides to be posted to the GLX site some time in the future. It's a hard site to navigate though so they may already be hidden in there somewhere. The design team said they would publicly post the videos after completing this latest cycle of meetings. http://greenlineextension.eot.state.ma.us/index.html
 
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Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

kjdonovan said:
Keep an eye out for the native videos of these virtual rides to be posted to the GLX site some time in the future. It's a hard site to navigate though so they may already be hidden in there somewhere. The design team said they would publicly post the videos after completing this lattest cycle of meetings. http://greenlineextension.eot.state.ma.us/index.html
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My first thought when I saw that video was "why wasn't this on Youtube earlier?". The State should post these sort of things as soon as they are available, not wait for somebody sitting in a meeting to record a bootleg version on his phone and put it on the internet like a movie theater pirate. The video has nearly 10,000 views already; I wouldn't be at all surprised if more people have viewed it online in the two days since it was posted than have ever attended a GLX public meeting in the project's twenty year history.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

This may be a nitpick / nimby bashing, but why are there sound walls?

Newton doesn't have them, and you've got million dollar properties abutting the tracks. No soundwalls on any of the other surface green lines either. The extension is on an existing, active ROW. Yeah, they are moving the tracks over 10 feet or so, but its 10 feet.

Anyone else think its a waste, of both money and a good view?
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

you probably wouldn't get redeveloped condos with the train out the window is my best estimate.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

The insistency on the sound barriers has always struck me as an end run to deflect lawsuits from abutters. Perhaps that's the cynic in me. Also I believe there are now federal guidelines in place about noise mitigation for new construction that were not around back when the last aboveground tracks were laid.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

If the sound barriers keep the NIMBYs at bay and allow the construction to progress, then so be it.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

davem said:
This may be a nitpick / nimby bashing, but why are there sound walls?

Newton doesn't have them, and you've got million dollar properties abutting the tracks. No soundwalls on any of the other surface green lines either. The extension is on an existing, active ROW. Yeah, they are moving the tracks over 10 feet or so, but its 10 feet.

Anyone else think its a waste, of both money and a good view?
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The million dollar properties in Newton don't have multistory housing directly abutting the tracks. The houses sit across a large lot from the trains. Here, the train would be right outside peoples' windows.

Of course, that doesn't explain ArborPoint at Woodland Station, but the train there is moving slowly and not at level with any apartments.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

^ It's not unusual for apartments to abut elevated tracks. The people in Northpoint bought 2nd story units with the Lechmere Viaduct directly outside their windows.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

My friend actually owns a new-construction condo with a very up-close-and-personal experience of the "D" line. I was visiting there yesterday, in fact. It's fairly noisy. But it saved money!
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

A few years ago, the T added sound barriers on the Red Line elevated between Charles/MGH station and the tunnel portal in Beacon Hill. I miss the close-up view of people's houses, but I"m sure the residents don't miss the every-3-minutes train noise.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Ron Newman said:
A few years ago, the T added sound barriers on the Red Line elevated between Charles/MGH station and the tunnel portal in Beacon Hill. I miss the close-up view of people's houses, but I"m sure the residents don't miss the every-3-minutes train noise.
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It was a lot more fun like that.


I love living close to the B&A. I've been searching for an apartment RIGHT ON some sort of tracks, but no dice as of yet (tracks that are not the street running B/C). Then again, I'm a train nerd and don't mind noise.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

I think there's a for-sale sign on Pratt Street adjacent to Beacon Park. Although, you would have to deal with some other kinds of noise over there too ;)

It is next to a house owned and occupied by a long-term resident family, though, so there's that.

On second thought, I believe that there will be a sound wall installed in the foreseeable future. So scratch that.
 
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Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

davem said:
It was a lot more fun like that.


I love living close to the B&A. I've been searching for an apartment RIGHT ON some sort of tracks, but no dice as of yet (tracks that are not the street running B/C). Then again, I'm a train nerd and don't mind noise.
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Davem -- my favorite was the last of the old West End tenement houses which sat directly adjacent to a bend in the elevated Green Line between Science Park and the old North Station

I think on a regular basis you could have had a visitor, unfamailiar with the track layout, to prepare to jump out of a 2nd floor window, as the train appeared to prepare to take out the house

The house is still there as a "Monadnock" but the track now is on the incline with a much less close approach
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Second 17-month service disruption looms for Lechmere

With demolition of the Lechmere T station first and a relocated replacement coming second, East Cambridge is due for at least its third long-term transportation disruption in a decade, officials and neighborhood representatives warned Monday.

A policy order by Tim Toomey asked fellow city councillors to oppose the closing of Lechmere before its replacement was in place, and for the city manager to examine the issue with the state Department of Transportation and Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority.
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http://www.cambridgeday.com/2014/02...-for-lechmere-public-market-idea-still-alive/
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Wait... so they plan tear down the old station first... then start building the new station across the street? Who and why was it planned like this? It seems the much smarter to simply start building the new station then close the old one when it reach the phase of building the part that cross the street and physically connect to the existing El.

And wait up again, part me of suspect one can build it faster than 17 months too considering it is above ground and on an open parcel.


Oh man, I can even imagine the worse case scenario in this. They tear down Lechmere station into a hole and then over the 17 months of change the money dries-up/not willing to earmark over other stuff and now the Green Line is shorten to North Station Arborway-style.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

ant8904 said:
Wait... so they plan tear down the old station first... then start building the new station across the street? Who and why was it planned like this? It seems the much smarter to simply start building the new station then close the old one when it reach the phase of building the part that cross the street and physically connect to the existing El.

And wait up again, part me of suspect one can build it faster than 17 months too considering it is above ground and on an open parcel.


Oh man, I can even imagine the worse case scenario in this. They tear down Lechmere station into a hole and then over the 17 months of change the money dries-up/not willing to earmark over other stuff and now the Green Line is shorten to North Station Arborway-style.
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That's pretty ridiculous. So, would the Green Line terminate at North Station during the closure? In the beginning of construction, while Government Center is closed, the Green Line would be such a patchwork.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

I see no reason why there should be any longer than a week with out service.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

17 months seems reasonable but tearing down the existing station first is beyond comprehension.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

vanshnookenraggen said:
17 months seems reasonable but tearing down the existing station first is beyond comprehension.
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I believe they are actually tearing down and replacing the elevated structure itself all the way from the Land Blvd/Gilmore Bridge approach intersection to the location of the existing station.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

I wonder if this has something to do with the deals the MBTA made to get the land for the new station? The new developer would seem to have the most to gain from closing the station at the beginning of reconstruction.
 
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