F-Line to Dudley
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2010
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Maybe they just don't care. From the map it looks like the BU area near the throat is just athletic fields and Agganis Arena. Past the throat is where most of the action is, and ped access across looks better.
This is more the reality than they're simply being very quiet about discussing. Whether there's a viaduct or not, it doesn't matter to them because it's only visible to the back loading dock of Agganis and the upper dorm floors whose primary view is still buffered by great big Nickerson. Why waste any bullets on pure aesthetics where they have LOTS to gripe about on the post-'throat' project decisions where the inverted placement of West Station vs. layover yard is arbitrarily access-alienating to their whole side and they only get one wholly inadequate cross-street connection in alley-sized Malvern (no explanation whatsoever why Babcock is omitted)? Plus all other absentee-Harvard centric gripes like the chunky street grid, carpocalypse demerits to Lower Allston access, and Harvard's own transparent land-parking of the slab in lieu of any sooner development worth visiting.
I *suspect* BU doesn't even care enough about that crap to be a reliable coalition partner at all, since you would think the shredded street grid and station placement arbitrarily taking so much ease-of-access off the table from their side would be instant dealbreakers right from Render #1. But they disappointingly haven't said much at all about any of that publicly. At least there's still plenty of time to evolve over there, as shovel-in-ground Pike work can proceed for a solid half-decade doing 'throat' and other essentials shifting things back and forth before bridge abutment placements for overlying street grid need to be locked in-design. But there is most definitely a "give a shit" difference in level of interest on the grid/slab/station vs. 'throat'. Nothing of theirs fronts the 'throat' access- or vistas-wise, so the tape measure of nearest property line isn't meaningful. Their whole existential upside as an institution is tied up in what they get for grid continuity over the slab, whether anything on that grid like transit makes the faintest attempt to invite access from their side, and whether the land-owner on the grid is going to build anything worth making a crossover trip to see with any upside to BU (Harvard land or integration with the Lower Allston side).
Put it this way: BU participation now could be argued as surplus-to-requirement at risk of slowing down a 'throat' debate that's already slowed to crisis. Hanging back on this one is probably their best tactical move period, in addition to being extremely low-leverage for their own interests. But if they don't start throwing their weight around in a massive way after the 'throat' is settled and it's time to troubleshoot the grid & slab...