I-90 Interchange Improvement Project & West Station | Allston

[JeffDowntown]

It's too much of a time chew to loop the 66/T66 and 64 there the way the proposed street grid is laid out. Chances are that's not going to happen...especially not with the proposed T66 because of the time sensitivity of its load-bearing route.

The gigantic busways depicted at West in the renders are designed with the hope that intercity coach buses on the Pike en route to South Station will pit-stop a mere 3 miles out for campus access. Which is probably also a faulty assumption, since there's excellent transit access from South Station to Allston for students and pretty small margins involved for the bus companies at even attempting the pit-stop.

I think at the end of the day you're looking at just campus shuttle buses there, which doesn't require much bus infrastructure. Malvern's indeed probably sufficient for that lone BU shuttle bus, if BU even bothers to run a shuttle bus to what's going to be an all-Harvard property. What we'll have to see is whether the gigantic busways in the West render get VE'd down, because right now there's a LARGE discrepancy between projected bus capacity (too much by a lot) and projected bus utilization (or lackthereof).

I am not suggesting that a massive overbuild is a good ides, but I would think the Seaport is a great cautionary tale for erring on the side of slightly more infrastructure than you think you need, rather than less. We don't really know the transit demand profile of what Harvard and commercial interests are going to build out in this area. You don't get a second chance to put in the transit infrastructure without a lot of pain and suffering (and dislocation). The early stage build out will be cheaper than trying to fix a ghastly under-build mistake in the future.

 

[JeffDowntown]

It's too much of a time chew to loop the 66/T66 and 64 there the way the proposed street grid is laid out. Chances are that's not going to happen...especially not with the proposed T66 because of the time sensitivity of its load-bearing route.

The gigantic busways depicted at West in the renders are designed with the hope that intercity coach buses on the Pike en route to South Station will pit-stop a mere 3 miles out for campus access. Which is probably also a faulty assumption, since there's excellent transit access from South Station to Allston for students and pretty small margins involved for the bus companies at even attempting the pit-stop.

I think at the end of the day you're looking at just campus shuttle buses there, which doesn't require much bus infrastructure. Malvern's indeed probably sufficient for that lone BU shuttle bus, if BU even bothers to run a shuttle bus to what's going to be an all-Harvard property. What we'll have to see is whether the gigantic busways in the West render get VE'd down, because right now there's a LARGE discrepancy between projected bus capacity (too much by a lot) and projected bus utilization (or lackthereof).

I am not suggesting that a massive overbuild is a good ides, but I would think the Seaport is a great cautionary tale for erring on the side of slightly more infrastructure than you think you need, rather than less. We don't really know the transit demand profile of what Harvard and commercial interests are going to build out in this area. You don't get a second chance to put in the transit infrastructure without a lot of pain and suffering (and dislocation). The early stage build out will be cheaper than trying to fix a ghastly under-build mistake in the future.

 

[FK4]

It's too much of a time chew to loop the 66/T66 and 64 there the way the proposed street grid is laid out. Chances are that's not going to happen...especially not with the proposed T66 because of the time sensitivity of its load-bearing route.

The gigantic busways depicted at West in the renders are designed with the hope that intercity coach buses on the Pike en route to South Station will pit-stop a mere 3 miles out for campus access. Which is probably also a faulty assumption, since there's excellent transit access from South Station to Allston for students and pretty small margins involved for the bus companies at even attempting the pit-stop.

I think at the end of the day you're looking at just campus shuttle buses there, which doesn't require much bus infrastructure. Malvern's indeed probably sufficient for that lone BU shuttle bus, if BU even bothers to run a shuttle bus to what's going to be an all-Harvard property. What we'll have to see is whether the gigantic busways in the West render get VE'd down, because right now there's a LARGE discrepancy between projected bus capacity (too much by a lot) and projected bus utilization (or lackthereof).

Is Harvard fucking up and killing the future potential of a Green Line extension up thru the campus, into Harvard Sq? This would seem insanely short sighted to not leave this option open for a future build.

 

[millerm277]

Is Harvard fucking up and killing the future potential of a Green Line extension up thru the campus, into Harvard Sq? This would seem insanely short sighted to not leave this option open for a future build.

Uh....what? Is this a thing that's been seriously under consideration by anyone? I certainly don't think I've ever seen it.

 

[fatnoah]

Uh....what? Is this a thing that's been seriously under consideration by anyone? I certainly don't think I've ever seen it.

Maybe someone's been checking our own vanshnookenraggen's excellent maps: https://www.vanshnookenraggen.com/_...line-from-harvard-and-needham-to-the-seaport/

 

[FK4]

Uh....what? Is this a thing that's been seriously under consideration by anyone? I certainly don't think I've ever seen it.

Not exactly, it's largely a figment of archbostoners. However, the original plan was to reserve a right of way through the entire Allston campus for an Urban Ring BRT. Old maps of Harvard's plans showed this ROW and it seems even a simple BRT busway thru campus isn't being shown... which is utterly stupid. Anyway, I asked the question more pointed at keeping open the ROW thru campus. If this is created and preserved, it would potentially allow for a far distant future branching off of a GL, even if that's extremely unlikely. But sinking the chance now to keep a real ROW thru this massive piece of undeveloped land is beyond idiotic and that's what it seems they're doing.