I-90 Interchange Improvement Project & West Station | Allston

Re: Comments due Friday

Equilibria said:
You can advocate for it, but they've been pretty clear that the Rail Plan doesn't speak to MBTA projects, which West Station is...
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So the silly thing is that the plans Tier 1 of projects include:
- South Station Expansion
- South Station Tower 1 upgrades
- South Coast Rail

By what mental process are these ruled into top tier of the the plan (as, what, "not so MBTA as they appear?") But they're gonna rule out West Station as "too MBTA" for the state plan?
 
Re: Comments due Friday

Arlington said:
So the silly thing is that the plans Tier 1 of projects include:
- South Station Expansion
- South Station Tower 1 upgrades
- South Coast Rail

By what mental process are these ruled into top tier of the the plan (as, what, "not so MBTA as they appear?") But they're gonna rule out West Station as "too MBTA" for the state plan?
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SSX and Tower 1 are projects to be used by Amtrak. SCR is primarily a freight rail project at the moment.

It's not that I don't see your point, I'm just reporting what the response is likely to be.
 
This article claims BU now wants to allow buses on Malvern. That’s huge in my opinion.
 
Worth mentioning that the parking lot MassDOT would have to take in order to extend Malvern north, at 76 Ashford Street, is the ONLY parcel backing up to the Pike/tracks/river between Malvern and Bay State Road that BU doesn't own. So in addition to not committing to any additional dollar amount here, they've only committed to give away property that doesn't belong to them. Magnanimous as ever (though I agree this is progress at least in word).
 
So, yes, BU owns every parcel between Malvern and Babcock minus the parking lot at 76 Ashford, but Babcock literally runs up to the tracks! I don't see why the City can't tell BU to quiet down and accept busses there.

I can see the argument against putting more traffic on a street as pedestrian heavy as Harry Agganis way, but Babcock should be fair game. BU kids can (usually) cross Comm Ave, they can handle a Malvern or Babcock street with busses.

Edit: Even if the city is trying to appease BU to get money to fund West Station, they must make sure its an amount that's worth choosing Malvern over Babcock. Babcock is much more direct route for busses and shuttles going to LMA. As the intersection is designed now, vehicles exiting Malvern onto Comm Ave must take a right onto Comm Ave west bound.
 
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I can understand BU not wanting regular traffic, as it would be a cut-through to the pike. But with busses if you have one every 5 mins it won't be disruptive at all.
 
theSil said:
So, yes, BU owns every parcel between Malvern and Babcock minus the parking lot at 76 Ashford, but Babcock literally runs up to the tracks! I don't see why the City can't tell BU to quiet down and accept busses there.

I can see the argument against putting more traffic on a street as pedestrian heavy as Harry Agganis way, but Babcock should be fair game. BU kids can (usually) cross Comm Ave, they can handle a Malvern or Babcock street with busses.

Edit: Even if the city is trying to appease BU to get money to fund West Station, they must make sure its an amount that's worth choosing Malvern over Babcock. Babcock is much more direct route for busses and shuttles going to LMA. As the intersection is designed now, vehicles exiting Malvern onto Comm Ave must take a right onto Comm Ave west bound.
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Malvern is theoretically better for accessing Comm Ave, though. Straight shot across Packard's Corner.
 
The City (or maybe the State) has already signed the funding deal that gave BU a veto on cross-traffic in exchange for BU's funding contribution.

It was a bad deal, but if BU has come to its senses (realizing that university students might want to ride in a shared vehicle, unlike, say car-oriented administrators) and is going to designate a place for buses to run, then that's a better thing, even if, overall, the deal is still a bad thing.
 
Equilibria said:
Malvern is theoretically better for accessing Comm Ave, though. Straight shot across Packard's Corner.
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There's no left turn at Malvern onto Brighton Ave/Comm ave though, so I don't see how this would work unless there's a major revamp of the intersection as well or the busses go down Brighton to Harvard Ave and over to Comm ave that way.

Malvern is better than using Babcock but I still wonder if they have enough room for the buses to drop from a raised station over the tracks and then ramp down to Malvern where it intersects with Ashford St. That's going to be a luge track come winter time.
 
Rover said:
There's no left turn at Malvern onto Brighton Ave/Comm ave though, so I don't see how this would work unless there's a major revamp of the intersection as well or the busses go down Brighton to Harvard Ave and over to Comm ave that way.

Malvern is better than using Babcock but I still wonder if they have enough room for the buses to drop from a raised station over the tracks and then ramp down to Malvern where it intersects with Ashford St. That's going to be a luge track come winter time.
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Looks like Ashford is a bit uphill so perhaps the grade change is manageable. Maybe it could be worked out to be less than 10%.
 
Sorry, playing catch-up here. Is this the most recent plan?
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If BU has agreed to allow buses on Malvern does that mean there will actually be a vehicular bridge/ramp or only that it is now somewhat of a possibility? Would the building between Ashford and the tracks be torn down or would they just squeeze around it? Very possibly that I've completely misunderstood something.
 
Rereading the article I linked above:

BU is also backing a direct connection between West Station and Commonwealth Avenue, along Malvern Street, that would only be open to buses and shuttles that can also provide transit service to the Longwood Medical Area. BU was once opposed to this kind of bus connection, but has more recently come around. The state’s plans, however, do not include the bus connection.
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It doesn't actually say buses will run thru from Lower Allston. It says that buses will access West Station from Comm Ave via Malvern. Could it be a cul-de-sac bus stop with only pedestrian stairs and/or elevator up to the West Station level? That would be better than nothing, but still a colossal missed opportunity for improving bus service from Cambridge to points south.
 
Justin7 said:
If BU has agreed to allow buses on Malvern does that mean there will actually be a vehicular bridge/ramp or only that it is now somewhat of a possibility? Would the building between Ashford and the tracks be torn down or would they just squeeze around it? Very possibly that I've completely misunderstood something.
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See pages 63-72 of this presentation for what I believe were the most recent proposals related to North-South transit connections.
 
IDK if this has been brought up but I was just looking in detail at the proposed roads and they all strike me as overkill. It looks like the Seaport with even the side "streets" having 4 or 5 lanes with turning lanes. This seems to be what happens when you let highway engineers design cities. We still haven't learned.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
IDK if this has been brought up but I was just looking in detail at the proposed roads and they all strike me as overkill. It looks like the Seaport with even the side "streets" having 4 or 5 lanes with turning lanes. This seems to be what happens when you let highway engineers design cities. We still haven't learned.
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I've been to a few of the community meetings, and the traffic engineers insist that this is needed for all the traffic going on and off the Pike at rush hour. But yes, this is going to be a new neighborhood criss-crossed by roads as large as Melnea Cass or Seaport Boulevards.
 
odurandina said:
top-state-official-pushes-for-interim-west-station-options

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...ion-options/e0KBcePKALGkJzhTyJd0FN/story.html
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Harvard is coming up big here to push this over the finish line.

I don't see how the DoT goes through a billion dollar project to realign the highway in part to make room for a large scale redevelopment and then doesn't spend the last $20 to $30 or even full $50 million (after Harvard puts in $50 million) to help make it a Transit Oriented Development from the start.

Tying this into the transit system (and making it walkable over from BU and the Green line) are critical.
 
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