I-90 Interchange Improvement Project & West Station | Allston

Why the hell should Boston pay for a road that benefits the suburbs and wrecks a section of the city?
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The highway isn't just for suburbanites. Some of us who live in the city and work in the suburbs also use the Pike. Granted, it's not the majority, but it does allow people in the city to go outside the city, not just vice-versa.

That said, I agree that investing in density and transit are better priorities.
 
fatnoah said:
The highway isn't just for suburbanites. Some of us who live in the city and work in the suburbs also use the Pike. Granted, it's not the majority, but it does allow people in the city to go outside the city, not just vice-versa.

That said, I agree that investing in density and transit are better priorities.
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There are certainly plenty of individualized circumstances, but really my point is only partially related to how the money is spent. There might be no clear delineation of who benefits most and in which way from the Pike extension. I'm not suggesting that Framingham pay for it instead of Boston, more that the state has to shoulder the entire burden if it's built, rather than charge the city that is arguably harmed in aggregate by it being there anyway.
 
Again, the State's argument is that the highway component of the project is being paid by toll revenue. There's no funding shortfall there. The non-highway components are what the State is seeking additional funds for, and I think there's little question that Harvard and the City of Boston (representative of abutters to the project) are the ones that stand to gain the most value from those non-highway project components.

I'm not saying I agree that Boston and Harvard should be on the hook from it, but there's little denying that commuters are funding the highway project through tolls and that Harvard and Boston are the most to gain from the non-highway elements. If this were a strict highway rebuild project with no other components, additional funding wouldn't be necessary.
 
JumboBuc said:
Again, the State's argument is that the highway component of the project is being paid by toll revenue. There's no funding shortfall there. The non-highway components are what the State is seeking additional funds for...
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The highway component work to be funded by toll revenues should include the redoing of Cambridge Street, plus constructing the main streets that will connect Cambridge Street to the Pike ramps. The rest of the new streets and West Station obviously need to be funded by others (Harvard, Boston, MASSDOT).
 
fatnoah said:
Some of us who live in the city and work in the suburbs also use the Pike.
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You're of course right that urban highways add value and are likely necessary for reverse commuters.

Zooming out further, one could point out that the job sprawl you're describing is yet another negative externality of these highways, but I digress...
 
theSil said:
You're of course right that urban highways add value and are likely necessary for reverse commuters.

Zooming out further, one could point out that the job sprawl you're describing is yet another negative externality of these highways, but I digress...
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It's important to drill down on this point.

While I am not making some generalization that interstate highways should not exist, it's plainly true that your run-of-the-mill I-495-adjacent office park is there because of I-495. Many mistakenly believe I-495 is there to bring them to their exurban office park when the opposite is most certainly true.
 
#bancars said:
www.bostonglobe.com

State will pursue $75m Mass. Pike repair as Allston deliberations continue - The Boston Globe

With state officials still undecided on the best way to rebuild the Massachusetts Turnpike through Allston, the Department of Transportation on Tuesday announced plans to spend $75 million repairing the elevated section of the highway in the near-term.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
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...aaaaand the "Hartford Syndrome" begins!

Great jerb, everyone. High-fives and backslaps all around. Really killed it here.
 
Highway infrastructure projects never get done in the Boston metro area. They get picked to death by all the busybodies, and there is no leadership to make it happen. Many fine proposals come and go. The exceptions in the last 50 years have been the Big Dig and also a couple of bridge replacements over the Charles.
 
shmessy said:
Way to lead, Charlie.
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Not sure if you're being ironic or not. But in any case, yeah, I was a bit curmudgeonly on that one, but it is true that not much gets built in proposed highway projects inside of Rte. 128. The projects I'm thinking of that are sitting in long-term limbo are: I-90 Allston interchange/viaduct reconfiguration; the I-93/I-95 interchange in Woburn, the I-95/128 interchange in Canton; and, the Route 1 relocation in Malden/Revere. Obviously transit projects must take priority over highways, but there are some key spots in the highway system that need the tweaking these projects would have provided.
 
Still think this is about Harvard waffling and/or preferring the timelines to be pushed out so the long term economic effects of the virus on Boston can be known so they can know if it's worth it to do the development.

It did sound like the State had gotten some assurances that the filling in would be allowed.
 
Charlie_mta said:
Not sure if you're being ironic or not. But in any case, yeah, I was a bit curmudgeonly on that one, but it is true that not much gets built in proposed highway projects inside of Rte. 128. The projects I'm thinking of that are sitting in long-term limbo are: I-90 Allston interchange/viaduct reconfiguration; the I-93/I-95 interchange in Woburn, the I-95/128 interchange in Canton; and, the Route 1 relocation in Malden/Revere. Obviously transit projects must take priority over highways, but there are some key spots in the highway system that need the tweaking these projects would have provided.
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Unless you're secretly the Governor, I don't think shmessy was talking about you ;).
 
jklo said:
Still think this is about Harvard waffling and/or preferring the timelines to be pushed out so the long term economic effects of the virus on Boston can be known so they can know if it's worth it to do the development.

It did sound like the State had gotten some assurances that the filling in would be allowed.
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Bill them the $75M in temp repairs then. And the next $75M coming 5 years later. And the $75M after that. . .

Strategery or no, it's racking up real-world sunk cost now.
 
Charlie_mta said:
Not sure if you're being ironic or not. But in any case, yeah, I was a bit curmudgeonly on that one, but it is true that not much gets built in proposed highway projects inside of Rte. 128. The projects I'm thinking of that are sitting in long-term limbo are: I-90 Allston interchange/viaduct reconfiguration; the I-93/I-95 interchange in Woburn, the I-95/128 interchange in Canton; and, the Route 1 relocation in Malden/Revere. Obviously transit projects must take priority over highways, but there are some key spots in the highway system that need the tweaking these projects would have provided.
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I was talking about Governor Baker. This is a $75 million temporary bandage due to his lack of any long-term vision. Myopia is an expensive condition.
 
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mass88 said:
It's a shame the 93/95 interchange in Woburn and 93/95 interchange in Canton projects have stalled. Those are two major interchanges that badly need to be rebuilt with flyover ramps, and acceleration and deceleration lanes that run for 1.5-2 miles before and after.
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You should've seen how long it took to redo the Route 9 Area. God, it looked like they'd NEVER finish with it!!! (n)
 
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